Parliament runs for just 218 minutes this week amid ruckus over Adani, BJP's demand of apology from Rahul Gandhi

On Thursday, the Lok Sabha ran for only a little over two minutes and the Rajya Sabha ran for just four minutes

Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were to sit for nearly 3,600 minutes this week but both the Houses could run for just 218 minutes as disruptions ruled the proceedings following Opposition protests on Adani Group and the ruling BJP’s demand for an apology from Congress MP Rahul Gandhi for his ‘democracy in danger’ remarks.

Friday too witnessed vociferous protests from both sides leading to the adjournment of proceedings without transacting official business, as competitive sloganeering by MPs from the ruling and Opposition sides made it difficult to run the Houses.

Rahul was present in the Lok Sabha, as the BJP raised the pitch of their protest while the Opposition remained adamant on setting up a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe the allegations of stock manipulation and fraud by Adani Group as well as the government’s support to the conglomerate.

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The Lok Sabha functioned for just 65 minutes out of the scheduled 1,800 minutes during five working days this week but most of it was spent sloganeering. While Friday witnessed the highest - 21 minutes of functioning, the lowest was on Thursday when it barely managed to run for a little over two minutes.

The Rajya Sabha functioned for 152 minutes out of the planned 1,800 minutes this week, majorly due to MPs leaving the acrimonious setting for about an hour on Tuesday – when the House functioned for a total of 82 minutes – to felicitate the Oscar winners. The least was on Thursday when it clocked just four minutes.

Though some Budget related papers were tabled, no discussion on the Budget could be taken up as both the treasury benches and the Opposition are willing to budge. Anticipating protests on the Adani issue, the BJP has upped the ante over Rahul’s ‘democracy in danger’ remarks in London, demanding an apology for “insulting” the country abroad.

The Opposition, which has stuck to each other in Parliament despite some parties being at loggerheads in their states, believes that it is merely diversionary tactics to avoid any mention of the Adani issue. Trinamool Congress is the only Opposition party, which is not part of the larger Opposition pool.

In the Rajya Sabha to counter the attack on Rahul, Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge raised a point of order during which he cited rules to say that allegations against an MP of Lok Sabha could not be raised in Rajya Sabha. On this, Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar has asked Leader of the House Piyush Goyal, who raised the issue on Rahul, to authenticate his claims.

Also, Congress MPs KC Venugopal and Shaktisinh Gohil have submitted breach of privilege notices against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Goyal for their remarks on Sonia Gandhi and Rahul during their speeches.

At the same time, Rahul is facing a breach of privilege proceeding for his remarks against Modi in the Lok Sabha with the ruling BJP threatening to escalate it.