Thursday, March 10 2005 14:18 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were today (Mar 10, 2005) adjourned briefly amid noisy scenes with angry ruling Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) members in the lower house protesting in the well demanding arrest of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) convenor George Fernandes for his reported remarks against Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Waving a newspaper clipping and a CD, RJD members in the Lok Sabha led by Ramkripal Yadav demanded arrest of Fernandes for his remarks against Sonia. They shouted slogans against him.

Speaker Somnath Chatterjee repeatedly asked members to resume their seats to enable leader of the Opposition L K Advani to speak on the motion of thanks on the President's address. Finding the members' in an unrelenting mood, Chatterjee adjourned the House for ten minutes.

"This is unfortunate" that the members of the ruling side were trying to stall proceedings; Chatterjee said and asked the ruling party leaders to control the members.

Even threat of an action against them by the Speaker fell on deaf ears.

After the House re-assembled, the Speaker appealed to all sections to cooperate. If they wanted to raise issues, they should give proper notices and the chair would consider them, he added.

In the Rajya Sabha, uproarious scenes were witnessed over the issue leading to adjournment of the House for 20 minutes.

RJD member Kum Kum Rai sought to raise the issue but chair disallowed saying proper notice be given on the matter. This sparked noisy protests from Congress members who were up in arms saying the matter was serious and the chair should allow it to be discussed.

As repeated pleas for order went unheeded, Deputy Chairman K Rehman Khan adjourned the House till 13:00 hrs (IST).