A wad of Rs 500 notes found from the seat allotted to Abhishek Singhvi in the Rajya Sabha rocked the Upper House on Friday with the opposition and ruling alliance MPs trading charges and the Congress MP demanding a probe into the 'security lapse'.
Singhvi also suggested that glass enclosures should be erected to prevent anyone from planting "ganja" on seats in an MP's absence.
The Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day within minutes of meeting after lunch as treasury benches were on their feet seeking answers from the opposition.
Deputy Chairman Harivansh, who was in Chair, sought to pacify the members of the ruling party and urged them to sit down and allow the House to function. As unrelenting Bharatiya Janata Party members continued to raise slogans, he adjourned the House for the day.
Soon after the official papers were laid on the table in the morning, Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar said security staff had recovered a wad of Rs 500 notes from the seat allotted to Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi, leading to an uproar in the House.
While Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge said the chairman should not have named the member without an investigation being completed, Leader of the House J P Nadda accused the opposition of showing eagerness on "some issues" while wanting to cover up other issues.
The currency was recovered from seat 222, which is allotted to Singhvi, during an anti-sabotage check on Thursday, Dhankhar said.
"After the adjournment of the House yesterday, a wad of currency notes was apparently recovered by security officials from seat no 222 presently allotted to Abhishek Manu Singhvi, elected from the state of Telangana."
An investigation has been ordered in accordance with practice, he said, adding it was not clear if the currency notes were real or fake.
The chairman said the wad has Rs 500 notes and there appear to be 100 notes.
"It was my duty and I'm obliged to inform the House. This is a routine anti-sabotage check which takes place," he said.
Dhankhar added that he was expecting someone would claim the currency notes, but no one has so far.
"Does it reflect the state of the economy that people can afford to forget it," he posed.
As a ruckus broke out, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju asked, "Why should there be an objection to the name being taken? The chairman has pointed out the seat number and the member who occupies that. What is the problem with that?"
He said carrying bundles of notes in the House is not appropriate and agreed that there should be a serious investigation into the matter.
Dhankhar added that the anti-sabotage check was done in view of the security challenges.
"I have been careful that anti-sabotage checks must be very severe because in these highly technological situations where chemicals are used, the first and foremost is security... From that perspective it was done," he said.
According to Nadda, the matter was serious and the opposition and treasury benches should not be divided as it is an attack on the dignity of the House. He also suggested that the Rajya Sabha should pass a resolution stating the proceedings of the House should never be disrupted.
Taking a jibe at opposition members, Nadda said, "On some issues, you show eagerness, while you want to cover up other issues."
Kharge objected, saying, "Why is Mr Nadda saying we are trying to suppress the matter... You do that, we don't do that."
Union Minister Piyush Goyal said it is a serious issue. "We don't know what else may be found on that side," he said. Without taking any names, Goyal accused the opposition of stalling Parliament over 'fake narratives".
The Rajya Sabha then proceeded with Zero Hour, which was followed by the Question Hour.
As the controversy spiralled, Singhvi termed the incident bizarre and added that politics on issues such as this showed the system in a bad light and "demeans our level".
The Congress MP clarified that he carries only one Rs 500 note when he goes to the Rajya Sabha. "I reached inside House at 12.57 pm yesterday and the House rose at 1 pm; then I sat in canteen till 1.30 pm with Ayodhya Rami Reddy then, I left Parliament!" he said in a post on X.
"I feel there should be a glass cabin for every seat in Parliament. This will allow an MP to lock his seat before leaving for home and no person can keep anything like 'ganja'.
"Possibly we should now have a barbed wire fencing around the entire seat or a glass enclosure around the seat which could be locked... so that anybody cannot put 'ganja', rupee or anything else on that seat when you are away," Singhvi told reporters.
The Congress MP said fortunately or unfortunately, he came to the House only for three minutes on Thursday and then again left for court after having lunch.
Radha Mohan Das Aggarwal of the BJP expressed surprise over the incident and said, "It is clear that there has been a split in the opposition bloc and several parties are running away from them. To keep them united they are sending money through their MPs."
He said the amount found in the House was only "leftover" and asked what was the "real amount that had come in and how much money was distributed to parties". People have the right to know and there should be a probe, he said.
Aggarwal also said that Singhvi claimed that he was in Parliament for only three minutes and spent 30 minutes in the canteen.
"Is he paid to attend the House for only three minutes? Do we elect MPs for this or will there be a law to ensure that MPs get paid with public money only to attend for three minutes? This is Congress' corruption," he alleged.
Congress MP Imran Masood later said the government was trying to distract attention from the Adani issue and was running away from a debate on it.
BJP Lok Sabha MP Manoj Tiwari said he was "shocked" by the incident and it should be investigated. "You find money from their seat and also from their homes... Where so much black money comes from needs to be probed," he said.
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