LS adjourned due to Sethusamudram issue

New Delhi, May 16: Continued pandemonium in the Lok Sabha caused by BJP members protesting against Union Shipping Minister T R Baalu's reply on the Sethusamudram canal issue today forced the adjournment of the House for the day.

The trouble started when Mr Baalu, while replying to a Calling Attention Motion on the status of the Sethusamudram project, asserted that there was no Ramsethu bridge at all and that the Government was going ahead with the project ''if at all it was Adamsethu''.

BJP members trooped into the well of the House and started shouting slogans like ''We want Ramsethu'' and ''Dictatorship will not be allowed''.

Even as the BJP members persisted in shouting slogans against Mr Baalu, the Minister rebutted the Opposition's charge of misleading the House. He clarified that the UPA Government did not mean to hurt the feelings of any religion, least of all the Hindus, and that the Government had secular credentials.

Mr Baalu, amid pandemonium, asserted that the BJP had no hesitation in dismantling the 400-year-old mosque in Ayodhya, but was raising a hue and cry over a structure which had no proof of being a Ramsethu. He maintained that ''after all, it was a mythological story''.

As the furore by BJP members continued amid protests by DMK members, Deputy Speaker allowed the House to hurriedly pass the Central Road Fund (Amendment) Bill moved by Mr Baalu.

The Deputy Speaker adjourned the House for the day when pandemonium did not cease even as Minister for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal rose up to speak on global warming. The House was adjourned earlier in the day on the Sethusamudram issue.

Earlier, those who sought clarifications on the project included Mr V K Malhotra(BJP), Mr M S V Chittan(Cong) and S K Karventhan(Cong).

UNI

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