Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman P J Kurien today pulled up Power Minister Piyush Goyal and senior BJP member V P Singh Badnore for repeatedly speaking while he was trying to restore order in the House.
Trouble broke out when Opposition parties took on the government for allowing Indian Army to be used for the private event of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on the ecologically fragile flood plains of Yamuna.
As the government fended off the criticism saying the issue was before the National Green Tribunal, unsatisfied members of Congress, SP, JD-U and Left parties sprung to their feet shouting slogans with some of them later trooping into the Well.
Kurien asked members to go back to their places saying the government has responded to the issue raised by Sharad Yadav (JD-U) and Ghulam Nabi Azad (Cong) and they should now allow the Zero Hour to proceed.
But opposition members were unrelenting and Kurien stood up trying to restore order.
As he was doing so, Badnore repeatedly stood up to counter the opposition slogan shouting.
Kurien first asked him to sit down as he was speaking, but Badnore did not pay any heed.
An angry Kurien then remarked, “What kind of Vice Chairman are you?” The Deputy Chairman asked treasury benches, where Leader of the House Arun Jaitley and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi were seated, to rein in Badnore.
With no one intervening and Badnore continuing to speak, Kurien said “V P Singh Badnore. You are a vice chairman. You see I am standing here and yet you are speaking.”
Sensing trouble, Badnore quickly took his seat. Kurien told the opposition members that there was no reason for “this kind of ruckus in the House.”
As he said, “I am on my legs. There is no reason for this ruckus,” Goyal sitting on his seat made some remarks.
Kurien shot back at him saying, “Ministers should behave properly.” Goyal did not make any comment thereafter and was seen exchanging notes with Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan sitting next to him.