Led by Yadav pals Mulayam Singh and Laloo Prasad, about 50 MPs of the Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Bahujan Samaj Party, Indian Union Muslim League, National Conference, Republican Party of India, Janata Party and Independents, rushed to the Well of the House repeatedly muscling the marshalls away and ensuring no business was transacted.

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee called it a sad day the like of which he hadn't seen before.

For a long time the Lok Sabha looked more like a Chandni Chowk street drama as rival members slugged it out after the snatching of papers from the Speaker's table and the Bill from the hands of Law Minister Thambidurai just ashe was going to introduce it at 5.30 pm.

The protestors' were demanding that the Bill reduce the share of women's seats from 33 per cent to 15, that it have reservation for OBCs and minorities too, political parties be allowed to decide which seats should be alloted to women and the Election Commission have no role in it. These were more or less the same grounds on which the Bill was stalled during Deve Gowda time as premier when the United Front introduced it.

There were at least five rounds of all-party meetings in the Speaker's chambers but nothing came out of them. And after periodic doses of such demands, the day ended in the unseemly snatching of papers.

RJD member Surendra Prakash Yadav crumpled both sets of papers, hurled them in the air and set a low precedent for members' behaviour not seen for a long time in Parliament.

Yadav was patted on the back by both Mulayam and Laloo but he could face bad news tomorrow. The Speaker spent a great deal of time watching the video tape of the event andby late evening, he was left with two choices: suspend S P Yadav and others or refer the matter to the House Privileges Committee.

Either way, the RJD member could enter the record books by becoming a rare case of serious disciplinary action taken by a Lok Sabha Speaker. Almost ridiculously, Laloo Yadav backed his MP suggesting that Durai could have hurled the Bill himself. Durai did nothing of the kind and merely wore a hapless look as he mumbled "what is this" as his copy of the Bill ended as a crumpled ball of male resentment.

The first signs of trouble came soon, a minute after the House assembled at 11 am. By 11.10, the first adjournment was forced and this pattern continued, at 2.06 pm, 2.32 pm, 5.03 pm and finally at 5.32 pm. Earlier at 11 am, Mulayam and Laloo led their supporters in a march from the Parliament gates to the House past the Lobby, an act Parliamentary Affairs Minister Madan Lal Khurana called "unprecedented".

As Khurana said that the Opposition members "brought the streets intoParliament", Vajpayee was even more hurt. "This will be remembered as a sad day in the history of the Lok Sabha. In my 40 years as a parliamentarian, there have been disagreements, dharnas and so on. But nothing like today's ugly spectacle. This is a warning bell for democracy and people should take serious note of the situation," he told journalists.

Agencies add: The Speaker has convened a meeting of all party leaders tomorrow morning before the House meets to decide on the introduction of the bill, even as the Government prepares to introduce the Bill in the Lok Sabha tomorrow notwithstanding the opposition.

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