New Delhi: While the issue of Chinese incursion in Tawang reverberated in parliament for the second day, the Congress and other opposition parties walked out of the Lok Sabha on Thursday as they were not satisfied with the reply from Union petroleum minister Hardeep Puri on the rise in petrol prices. Meanwhile, the BJP MPs disrupted proceedings in the Upper House as they sought to raise the hooch tragedy in Bihar.

In the Lok Sabha, the Congress on Thursday again sought a discussion on the situation at the India-China border. Party MP Manish Tewari gave a notice of adjournment motion in the House to discuss the “grave situation at the border with China in the Tawang sector in Arunachal Pradesh”.

He wrote to the secretary-general that he had given the motion for adjournment of business and demanded that the House suspend the Zero Hour and other businesses of the day to “have a detailed discussion on the grave situation at the border with China in the Tawang sector in Arunachal Pradesh”.

In the letter, Tiwari also raised several questions about the Galwan clash of 2020 and the recent face-off in Arunachal Pradesh between the Indian and Chinese forces. On Wednesday, several opposition parties walked out of both houses of parliament after the government refused to discuss the matter further.

However, when the House assembled, the Lok Sabha only took up the listed matters for the day. This included questions pertaining to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

While minister Hardeep Puri was answering questions, the opposition staged a walk-out saying they were not satisfied with his replies. The trigger was Puri’s reply to a question by Congress MP from Kerala, Muralidharan. Puri said that fuel prices had risen globally due to a corresponding rise in crude oil prices, but added that the prices in India remained relatively low in comparison.

Defending not lowering the price of petrol, he said that oil companies had suffered losses of Rs 27,276 crore due to high prices of crude in international markets. Puri added that while the Union government has reduced excise duty on petroleum products, some other states have also reduced Value Added Tax (VAT). He however, pointed out that six opposition-ruled states – West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, Kerala and Jharkhand – have not taken a similar measure.

“I suggest MPs from the opposition impress upon their state governments to reduce the VAT so that they can also join the celebrations,” he said, leading to loud protests by the opposition. Subsequently, members of the Congress and some other parties walked out in protest.

Adjournments in RS

The Rajya Sabha was adjourned twice on Thursday following protests by opposition members on various issues. The Upper House saw repeated disruptions as opposition members protested against the chair’s decision not to allow adjournment notices on several issues, including on alleged misuse of probe agencies by the government.

Among the notices that were given, Congress MP Pramod Tiwari had given a Suspension of Business Notice under Rule 267 to discuss “misuse of CBI, ED and other govt agencies against political rivals and others.”

A similar notice was given by Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi who wanted to discuss “the subversion of independence of institutions like ED, IT, CBI, EC, CVC and CIC.”

Meanwhile, Aam Aadmi Party MP Raghav Chadha had given a Suspension of Business Notice under Rule 267 in the Rajya Sabha to discuss the Union government's attempts to "interfere in appointments to higher judiciary and delays/obstructions in judicial appointments".

Later, Rajya Sabha MP and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge asked in a Hindi tweet why the government was not allowing a discussion on China. “Are we not allowed to speak against China in the Indian Parliament,” he wrote.

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