New Delhi:
The Lok Sabha Speaker has had to step in to defuse a room crisis in Parliament, which saw nameplates being flung as lawmakers from the Trinamool Congress and the Telugu Desam Party engaged in an unseemly row over occupancy.
They are squabbling over whose party office will be housed in room number 5 on the ground floor of the circular building, seen as prime real estate.
Both parties have been asked to wait until tomorrow for a final decision.
Trinamool Members of Parliament Sudip Bandopadhyay and Sultan Ahmed today attempted to move into the room, claiming that it had been allotted to their party.
But TDP members attempted to stall them; they were allotted the room in 1999 by then Speaker GMC Balayogi, who belonged to the Andhra Pradesh party, and have used it for the last 15 year despite being asked to vacate earlier too.
"We haven't acquired the room forcefully, we have been allotted the room by the LS Secretariat," said a cross Mr Bandhopadhyay.
The Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP says it was allotted the room again in June this year. In a more recent round of allotments, it was given rooms 135 and 136, but Left parties CPM and CPI use these and are reportedly not ready to vacate them.
Rooms in Parliament House are allotted according to party strength. A room on the ground floor is a status symbol that advertises that strength.
Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress, with 34 MPs in the Lok Sabha is the fourth largest party in the House.
The TDP, which was a big party and a key member of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government 15 years ago, is back in government but with a much smaller contingent of 15 MPs.
The Speaker has recently allotted fresh space on the ground floor to big parties like the AIADMK, Trinamool Congress and the Biju Janta Dal.