There was uproar in the Lok Sabha Wednesday over the absence of Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister M.K. Alagiri when the issue of shortage of fertilisers and seeds was being discussed.

The absence was noticed when, during a 'call-attention' motion, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar asked Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) MP Basudeb Acharia to ask his question.

The CPI-M leader spoke about the situation arising due to the shortage of fertilisers and seeds in the country.

When Minister of State for Chemical and Fertiliser Srikant Jena stood up to answer, the opposition MPs, including Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ananth Kumar, Acharia and Samajwadi Party leaders, stood up and criticised the absence of cabinet minister Alagiri of the DMK.

The opposition benches slammed the minister for being absent when an important matter related to his ministry was being taken up in parliament.

'Where is the cabinet minister? This is an important subject,' they shouted, leading to total chaos in the house.

The speaker tried to calm the opposition members and said: 'There is a collective responsibility. We know that the cabinet has a collective responsibility.' She was referring to the presence of Jena in the house.

But the opposition MPs were not pacified and continued their protest.

As the commotion continued, Leader of the House and union Finance Minister Pranab Mukheree stood up and tried to reason with Ananth Kumar. 'You have been a former minister. You know the rules.'

As the chaos continued, Mukherjee said: 'You are challenging the rules. This is unacceptable.'

Hearing him, other DMK leaders -- T. R. Baalu and Communications and Information Technology Minister A. Raja -- rushed to the defence of their party member.

Joining in the chorus were Trinamool Congress members, who in turn slammed Acharia for raising the matter.

Alagiri, who was absent for many days in the last session of parliament too, had requested the speaker to allow him to speak in Tamil as he was not fluent in Hindi or English. The speaker had told IANS earlier that the matter was still under consideration.

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