NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned briefly on Thursday as Opposition parties voiced their protest against rising prices and the Enforcement Directorate summons to Congress president Sonia Gandhi for questioning in a money laundering case.
The Congress and other Opposition parties sought to raise the issues as soon as the House convened for the day and began shouting slogans.
Many members trooped into the Well of the House displaying placards even as Question Hour started.
Speaker Om Birla adjourned the House for a brief period.
Proceedings resumed around 11.30 am with Congress members staying away and DMK members staging a walkout.
Earlier in the day, Union minister Pralhad Joshi asked whether the Opposition party believes everyone is equal before the law or not.
"Is she some 'super human' because she is the Congress president?" The Parliamentary Affairs Minister also said Opposition parties wanted to discuss the issue of price rise in the House and the government was ready for it.
"Once the health of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is fine, the discussion can be taken up," the minister said.
Amid the din, a question related to the installation of solar power panels was taken up during Question Hour which went on for just about 10 minutes.
The speaker told the protesting members that issues can be raised after Question Hour.
However, as the ruckus continued, the proceedings were adjourned till 11.30 am.
Some Congress members displayed placards with the words "Satyameva Jayate" and a photograph of Sonia Gandhi.
The Congress president is appearing before the Enforcement Directorate for questioning in a money laundering case related to National Herald.
Opposition parties also protested against the price.
They have been protesting against the government over price rise, levying of GST on certain daily use items and other issues since the Monsoon session of Parliament started on July 18.
Similar scenes remained in Rajya Sabha as well as the proceedings on Thursday were adjourned twice during the pre-lunch period after opposition members created uproar over issues of price rise and Goods and Services Tax (GST) hike on daily essentials.
While the House was first adjourned for about an hour soon after it met for the day, it was again adjourned briefly for 10 minutes during the Question Hour as opposition members continued to create uproar.
The opposition parties led by the Congress tried to raise the issues of price rise and levy of GST on daily essentials.
Opposition party MPs carried placards with slogans against price rise and GST, and with prices of essential goods before and after the Modi government came to power.
Deputy Chairman Harivansh urged protesting members not to enter the well with placards saying it not as per parliamentary traditions.
"Please go to your seats and do not display placards. They are against Rajya Sabha rules," he said.
"The Question Hour is very important and those in the well with placards are wrong. This is against the rules of procedure," Harivansh said, as he continued the Question Hour in the din.
Opposition member Sanjay Singh stood before the chair of the Secretary General, who was not present as he is the returning officer for the presidential election.
Holding a placard, he appeared before the deputy chairman and kept raising slogans when the chair adjourned the House briefly for 10 minutes at around 12.25 PM.
Earlier, soon after the House met Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu ordered that those carrying placards and other articles should be named in the House Bulletin with remarks that the Chair disapproved of their actions.
Later, he adjourned the proceedings till 12 pm.
The first three days of the Monsoon Session of Parliament have been washed out amid opposition protests.
Thursday appeared no different with not even official listed papers laid on the table of the House.
When the House assembled for the day, Naidu greeted Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge on his 80th birthday.
Thereafter, Dharmasthala Heggade took oath as a member of the Upper House of Parliament.
Soon after, opposition MPs were up on their feet trying to raise the issue of price rise and levy of GST on items like wheat, rice and curd.
Some carried placards and others packets of items on which GST was levied from July 18.
"No placards, no articles," Naidu said.
"I have to name those people. I order that names of those carrying placards should be mentioned in the House Bulletin and also mention that the chairman stated that this act was objectionable."
As MPs started to move towards the well of the House, he had adjourned the proceedings till 12 pm.
Ahead of Sonia Gandhi's questioning by the ED, leaders of 13 political parties met at Parliament House and condemned the action.
"The Modi 'sarkar' has unleashed a relentless campaign of vendetta against its political opponents and critics through the mischievous misuse of investigative agencies. Prominent leaders of a number of political parties have been deliberately targeted and subjected to harassment in an unprecedented manner," the leaders charged in a joint statement.
"We condemn this and resolve to continue and intensify our collective fight against the anti-people, anti-farmer, anti-Constitution policies of the Modi 'sarkar' that is destroying the social fabric of our society," they also said in the statement.
Leaders of the Congress, DMK, CPI-M, CPI, IUML, NC, TRS, MDMK, NCP, VCK, Shiv Sena, RJD and RSP were present in the meeting.