The Rajya Sabha was paralysed for the second consecutive day on Wednesday as Opposition members forced four adjournments by creating uproar over the lalitGate and Vyapam scam. While ruling out any resignation, the Government challenged the Opposition for a debate.
leader of the House and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley accused the Opposition of doing politics of slogan-shouting as he pressed for starting the debate on the issue. Jaitley defended Swaraj by asking the Opposition to point out any provision of the law which she violated in allegedly trying to help the former IPl commissioner.
Jaitley’s comment came soon after Sharad Yadav (JD-U) said the Ministers whose names have cropped up in the controversies should resign. Yadav contended that if the accused Ministers resign, they will emerge stronger after the probe clears their names.
To emphasise his point, Yadav cited the resignation by him and BJP leader l K Advani after their names cropped up in the Jain Hawala case in 1990s. The House saw repeated adjournments in the pre-lunch session, with two each in the Zero Hour and the Question Hour, as the Opposition led by the Congress continued the uproar demanding resignations of Ministers and Chief Ministers.
“There has been enough of politics of slogan-shouting. You start with the debate. The House will now allow slogan-shouting. If you have any logic, then you speak,” Jaitley said as Yadav rose to speak.
An agitated Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said, “There will be no resignations.” This agitated the opposition members, who created uproar.
An unfazed Congress dared the BJP to raise issues concerning any of the States ruled by it but stuck to its demand for resignations of Sushma Swaraj and Chief Ministers of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh for smooth running of Parliament. “Congress party is not afraid to discuss any issue,” party spokesperson Gaurav Gogoi said at the AICC briefing in connection with the alleged scams in the water projects in Assam and Goa and the BJP charges of corruption against the Uttarkhand Chief Minister.
At the same time, he said it was imperative for Swaraj and others concerned to tender their resignation and follow “Raj dharma” espoused by party patriarch Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
As soon as obituary references were made, several opposition parties, including the Congress, BSP and the left, insisted that no debate was possible without the resignation of Sushma Swaraj, Vasundhra Raje and Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
The BSP chief Mayawati attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying the episode had exposed those who had claimed that “na khaoonga, na khane doonga” (I will neither take bribe nor will I allow anyone to take it).
Jaitley said the Vyapam issue was “squarely a State issue” and if the Opposition wanted to change rule to “discuss State issues and set up new precedents”, then issues ranging from Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Assam and Goa should also be discussed.
When Kurien called Mayawati to speak on BSP’s adjournment motion, this was met by stiff opposition from the treasury benches with even Ministers Piyush Goyal and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi raising their voice in protest.
leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad suggested that some members who had given adjournment notice should be allowed to speak, prompting Jaitley to protest and ask whether such a practice could be allowed every day. Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M) too asserted that Vyapam issue was not just restricted to one State as people had died even outside Madhya Pradesh under mysterious circumstances.