The Samajwadi Party (SP) on Wednesday did what it is adept at doing -- snatching Bills -- to stop Union Minister of State V Narayanasamy from introducing the 117th Constitutional amendment providing quota for SC/STs in job promotion, in the Lok Sabha.
But what added a new twist to the old drama was UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s involvement in the scuffle, she tried to unsuccessfully snatch back the Bill from SP MP Yashvir Singh.
What was no less ironical, Yashvir is an MP from the reserved constituency of Nagina in Uttar Pradesh. Among the SP MPs who got up to physically stall the passing of the Bill, it was Yashvir who managed to pluck it out of Narayanasamy’s hands mid-sentence, while he was reading it out to the House. As a dumbstruck Narayanasamy looked on aghast, the Lok Sabha was quickly adjourned by Speaker Meira Kumar to bring the curtains downs on the crude scuffle that ensued in the Well of the House between the Congress and SP MPs.
The ‘fight’ broke out as Sonia, sitting in the first row, tried to retrieve the Bill from Yashvir after he snatched it from Narayanasamy in the second row. But, the latter promptly passed it on to fellow SP MP Neeraj Shekhar.
The Congress MPs, shocked by the turn of events, rushed to the Well of the House where the SP members were already protesting in strength.
Far from being apologetic about the fight, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, who’s also a member of the Lok Sabha, condemned the ‘attack’ on his MPs.
He also forwarded a rather curious argument targeting the government. “We continue to oppose the Bill, as just on the basis of numerical majority you cannot do what you want.’’