Parliament House wears deserted look

New Delhi:  The Parliament House wore a deserted look on Monday noon as not a single member was visible within the premises.

Business in the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha were to begin at 2 p.m., but amid coronavirus scare, the parties appealed to adjourn the proceedings sine die — 12 days ahead of the original schedule.

The leaders of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), Shiv Sena and other opposition parties have demanded adjournment of the Houses amid growing cases of coronavirus in India and complete lock down of the affected places.

Seeing this, Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu has called for a meeting with all the political parties at 1.30 p.m.

The Lok Sabha will start at 2 p.m. as the Finance Bill is to be taken upon in the House.

It is expected that after passing the Finance Bill, the House will be adjourned sine die.

The Budget session was scheduled to last till April 3.

The parties demanded for adjournment after the deadly coronavirus pandemic knocked the door of the Indian Parliament after three Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs went for self quarantine.

Two BJP MPs — V. Muraleedharan and Suresh Prabhu — went into self isolation as a precautionary measure. Both of them have been tested negative.

In parliament, panic started on Friday after Dushyant Singh, BJP MP and son of former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, went into self-quarantine. Singh had attended a party in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow on March 15 where singer Kanika Kapoor was present.

Kapoor, who returned from the UK on March 9, had joined three parties in Lucknow before she was declared positive for coronavirus. She is the first Bollywood celebrity to test positive in the country.

IANS