'All in Well, not well': When Chairman Venkaiah Naidu’s one-liners livened noisy RS proceedings

It was Day One of the Winter Session for Venkaiah Naidu as Rajya Sabha Chairman and the VP didn’t disappoint regaling the Upper House with his witty one liners. However, Congress MPs still fuming over PM Modi's Pakistan remark during Gujarat campaign might have been too livid to see the funny side. 

On not finding Tiruchy Siva, a DMK MP from Tamil Nadu in RS, the VP quipped that Siva was missing and made a joke about Lord Shiva’s omnipresence as he remarked, that ‘Shiva was everywhere but not here in the house’.

Another funny repartee came when SP’s Naresh Agarwal tried to raise a point regarding the disqualification of two former JD(U) members of the House.

The Chairman did not agree with him saying there is no "point ... in your point of order". He also said the matter cannot be discussed as it is a decision of the Chair.

Joining the issue, Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad  said the opposition was not challenging the decision taken by the Chair and wanted to say something more, but Naidu repeated that it was not a matter up for discussion.

Meanwhile, when Naidu asked A Navaneetha Krishnan (AIADMK) to go ahead with his Zero Hour mention regarding cyclone in Tamil Nadu, Congress and SP members trooped into the Well raising slogans.

This angered the VP no end, as he asked them to return to their seats but they continued to raise slogans. "You want to do like this on the first day...All in Well not well...," he said and adjourned the House till noon. 

Rajya Sabha promises to be fun with @MVenkaiahNaidu in the chair. Today he brushed aside a point order saying “there is neither order nor a point.” Let’s hope for many more one-liners amid the serious business

— Swapan Dasgupta (@swapan55) December 15, 2017

And that ended a nondescript day in Rajya Sabha where no work was done but the mood was certainly livened up by our quirky new Chairman who has a way with words. 

Opp leaders protest rejection of notice to discuss PM Modi’s Pakistan remark

Opposition leaders today protested the rejection of their notice in the Rajya Sabha demanding an explanation and apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his "conspiracy with Pakistan" remark involving his predecessor Manmohan Singh.

The leaders termed the comment "unfortunate" and told reporters outside the House it was "disappointing" that Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu did not allow a discussion on the notice.

They also objected to the "illegal disqualification" of rebel Janata Dal (United) leaders Sharad Yadav and Ali Anwar Ansari.

In place of Yadav and Ansari, Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) president Nitish Kumar should be disqualified for breaking away from the grand alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress, they said.

"We gave a notice, but the chairman adjourned the House and did not let us raise the issue. We are disappointed. The chairman should have given us permission. This is a national... international issue," Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters.

At an election rally in Gujarat on Sunday, Modi had suggested that Pakistan was trying to influence the state assembly polls.

He had claimed that some Pakistani officials and Manmohan Singh met at Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's house over dinner on December 6.

Azad said the prime minister should come to the Rajya Sabha and explain his remarks to its members.

His party colleague Anand Sharma, Naresh Agarwal of the SP and D Raja of the CPI said the people concerned should be punished if the allegations levelled by Modi were true.

"But if it is false, if he levelled such a big allegation to polarise the people in view of the Gujarat polls, then he should apologise not only to the House but also to the people of the country," Azad said.

Raja said it was "not correct" on Modi's part to cast aspersions on Singh.

The CPI national secretary said Modi should have called up his predecessor if he had any information on the "conspiracy" issue.

"He should have done it, but the way he raised the issue in an election campaign... It is highly objectionable. It is not good for democracy," Raja said, asking the government to respect the Opposition.

Sharma said it was "undemocratic" that the Opposition's voice was being "muzzled".

He said the prime minister was "aware" of the notice and could have "used the opportunity to clarify his remarks, express regret and apologise".

"But the prime minister and the dispensation are arrogant and confrontational. And this is most unfortunate. This attitude does not augur well for democracy. It is an ominous development on the first day itself," Sharma said.

With inputs from PTI