Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan tells Congress MPs not to interrupt the budget speech.
Opposition notices for a privilege motion against Union Education Minister Smriti Irani caused a brief commotion in the Lok Sabha this morning before Finance Minister Arun Jaitely presented the union budget for 2016-17.
Convention has it that the Finance Minister's budget speech is never interrupted. Mr Jaitley's speech was to begin at 11 am but as soon as he started speaking, some opposition members from the Congress and the Left were on their feet. They wanted to know the fate of their notices against Ms Irani for allegedly "misleading" the house on the Rohith Vemula issue.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu intervened to say, "This never happens during budget presentation."
"I have received notices raising the question of privilege dated February 26 and 29 respectively against the Union HRD Minister. The matter is under my consideration," Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said, seeking to pacify the opposition.
Her reply restored order in the house and Mr Jaitley began his budget speech. But, Tuesday is not expected to go as smoothly for the treasury benches.
The Congress, Left parties and the JDU had announced last week they would bring a privilege motion against Ms Irani for her remarks during the debate on Mr Vemula's death.
The opposition alleges that Ms Irani's claim that Mr Vemula's body was hidden and doctors were not allowed near him, is false and amounts to misleading the house. The Dalit student's family in Delhi and the doctor at Hyderabad Central University had refuted the minister's claims.
Sitaram Yechury, CPM General Secretary and Rajya Sabha member, told NDTV, "We are waiting to see what happens in Lok Sabha. Or else, we will invoke the minister's membership in the Rajya Sabha to bring a privilege motion against her."