New Delhi, Dec 12: Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati took the Rajya Sabha by storm on Wednesday as she confronted chairman Hamid Ansari.
She attributed this provocation to the failure of the Government to take up the Bill on reservation in promotions in Government jobs.
An unrelenting Mayawati accused Ansari of dereliction of duty. Later, she delivered a warning signal to the Government that her outburst against Ansari was the “first tough step”.
"I am not ready to listen to anything. We have seen in the last few days that every day the House is not allowed to function after 12 pm, It is your responsibility to ensure that it functions. Who will ensure that it functions," she told the chair from the Well as also from her seat.
"You are not seen here after 12 pm... What kind of House is this? You have to take a decision that what has to be done for this (ensuring the functioning of the House)," she said.
She was protesting against the frequent disruption over a bill for providing reservation in promotion to the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes in government jobs, an issue that has seen the party at loggerheads with the Samajwadi Party, its arch detractor in Uttar Pradesh politics.
The entire House was stunned after her diatribe against the Chairman which many members later described as unprecedented.
Despite repeated appeals by Ansari that she was a senior leader and should allow the House to function, the BSP supremo kept on lambasting him. Even Ansari’s observation that it was the responsibility of everyone to let the House function could not cut any ice with her. The BSP members were relenting.
As the chairman tried to pacify Mayawati and asked her to allow the Question Hour to proceed, the BSP chief went into the Well with her party members continuing with her verbal attack. Mayawati's remarks came on a day when the Chairman has called a meeting of the rules committee of the Rajya Sabha anguished over frequent disruptions of the Question Hour.
In the midst of her attack against the chair, her party colleagues were heard shouting slogans such as  shouting 'Dalit virodhi ye sarkar nahi chalegi'(anti-Dalit government is not acceptable).
A visibly upset Ansari adjourned the House till noon. When the House reassembled, BSP members again trooped into the Well shouting anti-government slogans.
Her outburst came a day after Ansari observed that the "Chair of the House is forced to watch helplessly" as MPs shout and disrupt proceedings.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 12 Dec 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 12 Dec 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 13 Dec 2012 00:00:00 IST