Lok Sabha adjourned twice as protests continue

New Delhi, March 10 (IANS) The Lok Sabha was adjourned twice Wednesday after Mulayam Singh Yadav, Sharad Yadav and Lalu Prasad staged noisy protests demanding that the seven MPs suspended in the Rajya Sabha a day earlier be taken back.

The three also reiterated their opposition to the women's bill passed in the upper house Tuesday reserving a third of seats in all legislatures for women, saying the proposed legislation should give special privileges to women from the Dalit, tribal and minority communities.

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Yadav, Janata Dal-United's (JD-U) Sharad Yadav and Rashtriya Janata Dal's (RJD) Lalu Prasad were in an angry mood when the Lok Sabha assembled.

As they marched towards's Speaker Meira Kumar's podium raising slogans against the government, she first adjourned the house till noon.

The MPs denounced the use of marshals to forcefully evict the seven suspended Rajya Sabha MPs: SP's Kamal Akhtar, Veerpal Singh Yadav, Amir Alam Khan and Nand Kishore Yadav, JD-U's Ejaz Ali, Lok Janshakti Party's Sabir Ali and RJD's Subhash Prasad Yadav.

The three veterans said the Lok Sabha would not be allowed to function until the Rajya Sabha revoked the suspension of their colleagues. They raised slogans demanding quotas for Muslims, Dalits and other backward classes in the women's reservation bill.

When the house reassembled at noon, the Yadavs again led their MPs toward's the speaker, who then adjourned the Lok Sabha till 2 p.m.

The Trinamool Congress, which too has opposed the bill in the present form, did not join the protest.

The Lok Sabha is expected to pass the bill before it takes a three-week break March 16.

The divide in the JD-U over the women's bill came to the fore again Wednesday as only one JD-U MP, Rajiv Ranjan Singh 'Lallan', joined Sharad Yadav in the protests.

The JD-U supported the legislation in the Rajya Sabha.