Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Tuesday raised the issue of withdrawal of Special Protection Group (SPG) security cover to the Gandhi family, but the government said he cannot raise the matter in Zero Hour as he had not given a notice for the same.
After the notice of adjournment motion given by the party on the withdrawal of SPG cover to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and former party president Rahul Gandhi was rejected by Speaker Om Birla, Chowdhury raised the issue in the Zero Hour.
Supporting the demand of the Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam member T R Baalu said removing the SPG cover from the Gandhis has put their lives under threat.
The government should provide SPG protection to them, Baalu said.
Chowdhury said the family faces threat to life and the cover by the elite security organisation should not have been withdrawn.
The Congress leader said the previous National Democratic Alliance government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee also did not remove the SPG cover of the Gandhis.
He wondered what is the conspiracy of the government in removing the SPG cover.
Both Congress and DMK members walked out of the House on the issue of removing SPG cover from Gandhis.
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal said Chowdhury cannot raise the issue in Zero Hour as he had not given notice in this regard.
"You have rejected the notice for adjournment on the issue. He did not give notice to raise the issue in Zero Hour," the minister told the Chair.
He had raised the issue on Monday also. The notice had described the move to withdraw the cover as 'arbitrary'.
It said the security cover was withdrawn ignoring the 'existing and probable threats' to the Gandhi family.
The government has replaced the SPG security cover given to the family of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, who was assassinated by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam terrorists on May 21, 1991, by the 'Z-plus' security of the Central Reserve Police Force.
Cong members raise slogans, hold protests in LS for second day
For the second straight day, Lok Sabha continued to witness ruckus on Tuesday as Congress members sought to raise various issues and shouted slogans.
More than 20 members from the Congress and the National Conference trooped into the Well of the House during the Question Hour even as Speaker Om Birla asked them repeatedly to go back to their seats.
Amid the uproar, five questions and supplementaries were taken up during the Question Hour.
The members were heard shouting slogans such as 'please stop revenge politics', 'end dictatorship' and 'we want justice'.
Some party members also shouted slogans in Tamil.
Birla told agitating members that they were not setting a good precedent by protesting in the Well.
Members from the DMK were standing at their seats and on the aisle as they wanted to raise some issues but could not be heard in the din.
On Monday, the first day of the Winter Session of Parliament, Congress and other Opposition parties had engaged in protests and sloganeering over various issues.
