Opposition disrupts Parliament proceedings over UPA-Left nuke panel

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Third Front disrupted parliamentary proceedings today, demanding the formation of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) instead of a UPA-Left Committee to go into concerns on the Indo-US civil nuclear deal.

New Delhi, Sept 5 : The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Third Front disrupted parliamentary proceedings today, demanding the formation of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) instead of a UPA-Left Committee to go into concerns on the Indo-US civil nuclear deal.

Protesting against the UPA-Left Committee that was formed on Tuesday, the BJP, Shiv Sena and the Third Front said that the move was an "insult" to Parliament and the nation.

Proceedings in both houses of Parliament were adjourned repeatedly.

In the Lok Sabha, NDA leaders shouted slogans of "we want JPC".

Initially, the Question Hour witnessed noisy scenes, following which Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee adjourned the House till 11.30 a.m.

When the House met again, similar scenes forced an adjournment of the House till 3.00 p.m.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi were present in the House.

The Rajya Sabha also saw similar protests.

On Tuesday, the UPA Government announced a 15-member committee to look into the Left's concerns on the Indo-US civil nuclear deal.

Mukherjee will be the convenor of the committee and will have six members each from the Congress and the Left parties and one each from other UPA constituents the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

Cabinet Ministers, including A K Antony, P Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal, Saifuddin Soz, Prithviraj Chavan, Lalu Prasad, T R Baalu and Sharad Pawar are the other members.

Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leaders Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechury, Communist Party of India (CPI) leaders A B Bardhan and D Raja, Forward Bloc leader Debabrata Biswas and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) leader T J Chandrachoodan represent the Left in the committee.

Rejecting the nuclear deal, the Left parties had earlier warned the Government of serious consequences if it went ahead with operationalising of the Agreement.

The Government had said that the agreement will be operationalised after taking into account the committee's findings.

ANI