‘ ₹9 crore spent a day to…’: Jagdambika Pal criticises Opposition's ‘immature’ behaviour in Lok Sabha — as it happened

Amid the uproar in the Lok Sabha on Monday, Presiding Officer Jagdambika Pal told opposition leaders who were disrupting the proceedings that it costs ₹9 crore a day to run the House. He accused the Opposition of wasting taxpayers' money by holding the House “hostage” to its demands.

He said, “It costs ₹1.5 crore per hour to run the House. ₹2.5 lakh is spent every single minute, and ₹9 crore is spent in one day.”

Jagdambika Pal criticised the Opposition members over their “irresponsible” and “immature” behaviour and said, “Your irresponsible behaviour is wasting nine crore rupees in one day. This is the public's money.”

“What do you want? You're not even discussing and you want the Speaker not to come here... You want to turn this into a political agenda,” Pal said in the Lok Sabha on Monday.

He added that the Speaker is the custodian here. “You have tabled a no-confidence motion against the honourable Speaker. That motion has been approved today. I am allowing the MP who tabled the motion to speak,” Pal said.

“But, you don't want to let the House run. The country is watching that the government wants to run the House, but you don't want to. This is irresponsible conduct, immature behaviour,” the presiding officer added.

Lok Sabha sees disruptions

Pal's remarks came as the Lok Sabha witnessed noisy scenes on Monday, the first day the House met following an inter-session break, with the opposition parties demanding a discussion on the crisis in West Asia, even as the External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar made a suo moto statement.

The government accused the Congress and other opposition parties of stalling proceedings when the House was to take up the resolution moved by opposition members seeking the removal of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.

The opposition parties do not have the numbers to carry the resolution in the House. Birla has not been chairing the House since 118 opposition MPs issued a notice on the motion in the first part of the Budget session.

The discussion on the no-confidence motion was supposed to take place on Monday, but it did not due to repeated adjournments of the House following protests by the Opposition, which sought a debate on the West Asia situation.

The House was first adjourned till 12 noon, then till 3 PM, and later for the day, as opposition members resorted to sloganeering against the government.

What exactly happened?

As proceedings resumed at 3 PM on Monday, Opposition MPs continued raising slogans. Jagadambika Pal, who was chairing the proceedings, urged them to maintain decorum and allow the House to take up the resolution against Birla.

Pal reminded the opposition that the no-confidence resolution against the Speaker was already on the House agenda, and their adjournment notice seeking debate on the West Asia crisis could not be taken up.

He accused the Opposition of wasting taxpayers' money — about ₹9 crore per day — by holding the House "hostage" to its demands. Pal described the opposition's behaviour as “immature and irresponsible”.

He further claimed that the opposition was working with a “political agenda” to disrupt proceedings by preventing the House from taking up the resolution against Birla.

He said the government and the Chair were willing to take up the resolution, but the opposition was creating obstacles, even as Birla was not presiding over the House until the no-confidence motion against him was settled.