Balayogi cracks the whip, at last

new delhi: lok sabha members who rush into the well of the house now face the prospect of a week-long banishment from the proceedings. speaker g m c balayogi seems to be finally cracking the whip. the new rule was discussed at a meeting of representatives from all political parties called by balayogi on thursday. and shortly afterwards when he took his chair in the house, balayogi indicated he could be tough when pushed: he ordered senior samata party mp prabhunath singh out for disrupting the house.singh had not come to the well of the house though. but doing that has become common in recent times. during the budget session, the opposition forced several adjournments of the house when their members walked into the well -- the out of bounds area in front of the speaker's podium -- and shouted slogans. this session, even ruling allies -- the dmk and samata party -- resorted to heckling right at the speaker's desk. "the situation has become so grim that those who come to the well of the house do not listen to the chair at all," balayogi said in his opening remarks. balayogi reminded the house saw forced adjournments on 10 of the 20 days the house has sat so far this session. three of the adjournments were for full days. on the other seven days, the adjournments ranged from 29 minutes to four-and-a-half hour. altogether nearly 29 hours were lost. representing the government, parliamentary affairs minister pramod mahajan said he was pained whenever any member walked into the well, particularly if it was anyone from the ruling alliance. barring mulayam singh yadav's samajwadi party, the other parties agreed to a rule stipulating "automatic suspension" for a week of any mp who stepped into the well for a week. a week is five working days. the lok sabha rules committee is expected to meet next week to modify the rule book by which the house conducts business. though the automatic suspension penalty is new, the rules already forbid walking into the well of the house. and the speaker already has the powers to suspend members who disrupt the proceedings. immediately after the meeting, when balayogi went to the house, he faced familiar scenes. samajwadi party mps shouted from the seats, trying to draw attention to the police firing in baghpat. samata party's prabhunath singh and brahmanand mandal waived newspaper copies with the tehelka story. balayogi said the issues could be raised, but only after the question hour. prabhunath singh ignored the speaker, refusing to sit down. he also moved to the second row in the house, and ignored the speaker's instructions that he should go back to his own seat. "please leave the house," the speaker said. this is an instruction which the chair in parliament gives very rarely. and it showed that balayogi might have a hidden tough streak in him. but as singh began picking up his papers, balayogi seemed to soften. "i can allow this (issue) in zero hour, or please leave the house," he said. this meant balayogi would let him stay in the house if he behaved during the question hour. from the bjp benches, venkaiah naidu now walked over, trying to persuade singh not to leave. prabhunath singh changed his mind, and stayed. but he didn't stop disrupting the proceedings"if you are not interested in question hour." this time singh walked out, followed by party colleague brahmanand mandal.