NEW DELHI, July 29: Three senior ministers found themselves in the dock in the Rajya Sabha this morning. Two, Satpal Maharaj and B B Ramaiah, because they were not adequately prepared to answer questions; and the third, Indrajit Gupta, because he wasn't present.

In fact, so annoyed was Deputy Chairperson Najma Heptullah by the performance of the Ministers that she adjourned the House until 2 pm when it was found that Home Minister Gupta was absent even though the discussion on the Mumbai police firing on Dalits was to be resumed.

``We cannot function in a vacuum. The House is adjourned until the Minister comes,'' she declared. Though Gupta turned up immediately after (he had been in the Lok Sabha for the Bihar debate), it was too late.

He infuriated the House further by seeking permission from the Chair to go back to the Lok Sabha where Leader of the Opposition Atal Bihari Vajpayee was scheduled to wrap up the Bihar debate.

Heptullah asked him to go to his seat and ask for permission. Gupta then quietly left the House, sparking off protest from Members at the absence of both the Home Minister and his deputy.

A visibly annoyed Heptullah adjourned the Rajya Sabha for the day.The morning began on a bad note when Minister of State for Finance Satpal Maharaj repeatedly fumbled and kept saying that he would get back to members with answers to the supplementaries they were asking on evasion of excise duty. ``This will not do,'' Heptullah told him.

Commerce Minister B B Ramaiah came next; and he too failed to reply satisfactorily to questions on the Patent Law and the World Trade Organisation (WTO), saying helplessly that he would have to consult his Cabinet colleagues. (The Patent Law is handled by the Ministry of Industry).Heptullah twice pulled up Maharaj and Ramaiah and later threatened to delist the questions against their names. ``This is not the way... You should be prepared to answer the questions,'' she said.

Ramaiah compounded the situation by leaving the House immediately after Question Hour, forgetting that he had to move two resolutions. Heptullah then lost her temper and said this was insult of the House. ``Maybe he has gone to collect the answers to the questions,'' she remarked sarcastically.

The last straw was the absence of Home Minister Indrajit Gupta and his deputy Maqbool Dar when yesterday's discussion on the Mumbai issue was to be resumed. There were protests from all sides, including from Gupta's party, the Communist Party of India.

Heptullah tersely observed, ``The House cannot sit in a vacuum'' and adjourned the House for lunch.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.