In what seemed a scene straight out of a Bollywood tragic-comedy, the Lok Sabha was witness to some drama, oodles of ugly scenes and a bigger dose of embarrassment on Wednesday after an agitating Samajwadi Party MP allegedly snatched papers from the hands of minister of state V Narayanswamy and triggered a ruckus.

The clash was followed by adjournment of the house by Speaker Meira Kumar, and left Congress president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi with minor injuries as she tried to intervene.

Narayanswamy was moving the constitution amendment bill for SC/ST reservation in promotion in government services when the incident took place. The bill eventually got stuck in the lower house.

According to reports, SP member Yashvir Singh from Nagina (UP) snatched the bill papers from the minister’s hands after which Vilas Muttemwar, a Congress MP from Nagpur who was sitting close to the minister, sprang up and pushed Singh in a bid to snatch back the documents. But it soon turned a game of throw ball as Singh flung the papers toward fellow SP member Neeraj Shekhar, son of late former prime minister Chandra Shekhar, who threw it on the other side of the officials' table.

Speaker Meira Kumar immediately adjourned the House for the day.

Sonia Gandhi, who was on the front seat where the scuffle took place, got up to intervene, only to pull back after she also got pushed. She was immediately escorted to the Speaker’s chamber by Bareilly MP Praveen Singh Aron as other Congress MPs encircled her. Congress sources said she received minor injuries on her right hand.

While BJP and Janata Dal (U) members accused Gandhi of being responsible for the ugly incidence in the house that hampered the bill, they also hurled abuses at Muttemwar for assaulting SP’s Singh, asserting that it was for the chair to take action and not for him to indulge in “goondaism”.

Parliamentary affairs minister Kamal Nath made a dash to SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav’s desk, urging to intervene. According to reports, far from apologetic, Mulayam instead "condemned" Congress MPs for the "attack on our MPs"

Tempers cooled down after about 10 minutes as everyone slowly left the hall, though the tension was palpable even in the central hall, where many MPs had retired.

Meanwhile, the Speaker decided to call a meeting of leaders of all parties on Gandhi’s suggestion to discuss the incident and take a view on action necessary against the SP member. The opposition demanded action against Muttemwar and two other Congress MPs as well for the ruckus.

After adjourning the house thrice as SP members rushed into the well and raised loud slogans against the bill, Meira Kumar had tried to resume the debate despite similar protests at 3 pm.

This was the second day of the SP’s protest on the issue. Earlier in the day, Shiv Sena MPs had also joined the protest that prevented the question hour.
The quota bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha on Monday after two days of discussion. In Rajya Sabha too, the chair had to threaten SP MPs of expulsion after which they walked out of the house.