Chidambaram faces privilege move for ‘talking out of turn’

Parliament was again thrown into uproar on Tuesday, this time over the issue of home minister P Chidambaram allegedly using his office to favour Delhi hotelier S P Gupta, who was Chidambaram's client when he was still a practicing lawyer.

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Yashwant Sinha requested Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar to admit a breach of privilege motion against Chidambaram on the ground that he had ''violated'' parliamentary procedure by speaking outside Parliament on the issue.

Sinha said that while Chidambaram did not explain his position on the allegations inside Parliament, ''he talked to reporters'' at his office on Friday evening.

The speaker reserved her ruling, telling the house, "I will consider it and come back to you.''

Sinha sought to speak saying that he wanted to ''state the facts in this house'', but Kumar did not allow him to do so.

Members of the BJP started the din as soon as Chidambaram began replying to a question put by Congress member Meenakshi Natarajan on human trafficking during question hour. Chidambaram answered the question, though his reply went largely unheard amid the din created by the main opposition party.

Similar scenes were witnessed in the Rajya Sabha. The upper house saw three adjournments after question hour before P J Kurien, who was in the chair, adjourned it for the day at 3 pm.