‘Oppn’s conduct in RS shameful’

New Delhi, Sept. 20: The top brass of the Central government on Sunday flayed the Opposition over its members’ “unruly conduct” in Rajya Sabha during the passage of the two farm Bills, condemning their behaviour as “extremely shameful” and unprecedented in Parliament’s history. Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Prakash Javadekar, Pralhad Joshi, Piyush Goyal, Thawarchand Gehlot and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi held a press conference to hit out at Opposition members, with Singh asserting that such conduct was not expected in a healthy democracy.

Singh also reassured the farmers on the Minimum Support Price (MSP) and Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMC). “I want to assure farmers that minimum support price and APMC will continue. These will never be removed at any cost,” he said.

● RAJNATH SINGH says that such conduct is not expected in a healthy democracy.

Singh noted that Opposition members tore rule book and papers at the desk of the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh, who was in the Chair, and climbed on to the podium — something, he added, he had never witnessed before.

Lauding Harivansh as a man of values, he said the “misconduct” of Opposition members towards him was unprecedented. Even if Opposition leaders were not convinced with the Chair’s decision, does it allow them to attack him and be “violent,” he asked.

Asked about the decision of BJP ally SAD’s minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal quitting the Cabinet in protest against the farm bills, Singh said there are some “political reasons” behind certain decisions.