As expected, the Monsoon Session of Parliament started on a stormy note on Tuesday with the Opposition paralysing the functioning of the Rajya Sabha over its demands for the resignation of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Chief Ministers of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh in lalitgate and Vyapam scam.
While Swaraj said she was ready for a debate on the charges that she helped former IPl commissioner lalit Modi get travel documents from the UK, the BJP accused the Congress of running away from discussion and gave no indications of giving in to pressure from the combined Opposition.
Besides seeking the resignation of Swaraj in lalitgate, the Opposition is also demanding the scalps of Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje in lalitgate and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in the Vyapam scam. The Rajya Sabha saw repeated adjournments and could not transact any business. The lok Sabha paid tributes to a sitting member and 13 former MPs who died in the recent past on the first day of the session following which the House was adjourned without transacting any business.
“I am ready for a debate today itself. I asked Arun Jaitley to convey this to the Rajya Sabha. Arun Jaitley has conveyed this to the House. We are looking forward to the Opposition’s response,” Swaraj said in a tweet.
As the main Opposition party made its intentions clear as soon as the proceedings began for the day with Congress leader Anand Sharma raising lalitgate, leader of the House and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the Government was willing to have a “discussion right now and Swaraj will also give a statement.”
This did not pacify the agitated Congress members and many of them rushed into the Well of the House demanding Swaraj’s resignation. The BJP members then countered and the House witnessed pandemonium forcing Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien to adjourn the proceedings. Similar scenes were witnessed time and again with the determined Congress forcing five adjournments till the House was finally adjourned for the day at 3 pm.
When CPM leader Sitaram Yechury and Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agrawal tried to raise the issue in the pre-lunch period, Jaitley said there was no need to do so as the debate should start immediately. Charging the Congress with running away from the discussion, he said “you do not want a discussion.” Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi also echoed similar sentiments.
Raising the issue, Anand Sharma sought to know the reason for Swaraj urging the UK Government to issue travel documents to lalit Modi two months after the NDA Government came to power.
He also said a sitting Chief Minister gave an affidavit favouring Modi in an apparent reference to Vasundhara Raje.
Terming these actions as “gross impropriety,” Sharma said Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his election campaign for lok Sabha polls last year had promise probity and transparency in public life and a corruption-free regime. “Where is the probity leftIJ You have violated the dignity,” he said.
After the House was adjourned for the day, Sharma reiterated the party’s stand at the AICC briefing and stated that the Prime Minister has to decide whether Parliament will function or not and for this the Opposition’s demand for removal of MEA and the Raje should be considered. “We are only carrying forward the 10-year precedence which was set by them (BJP) when we were on the ruling side. Every time our Government sacrificed our portfolios even before any investigations and enquiry began. They should now follow the same and we are demanding only this,” Sharma said.
Arguing that a discussion in the House was not a substitute for an investigation, Yechury said the concerned Minister and Chief Ministers should demit office till the probe is over. Agrawal said Swaraj and Raje should first resign and only then can a discussion be allowed and the House can function.
He also said the BJP did not allow the entire session to run when it was in the Opposition and some Ministers were allegedly embroiled in controversies.
Criticising the Opposition for disrupting the House, Jaitley said it was a “farcical” discussion on whether to have a discussion. “What are you discussingIJ Allow the motion and start discussion when the Government has already supported it (motion for discussion),” he said. As Kurien allowed Yechury to have his say, Jaitley quipped “Are you giving Sitaram Yechury a television opportunityIJ”
Countering Jaitley, Yechury said when the leader of the House was the leader of the Opposition during the UPA rule, at that time, in similar cases, an entire session was washed out. Jaitley had then stated that a discussion in the House was “not a substitute for impartiality of people in allegation and they should not remain in position,” Yechury said, charging the BJP with not adopting the same yardstick now when they are in the Treasury Benches.
In the midst of pandemonium, Jaitley withdrew the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill, over which the Government had issued an Ordinance in June.
Attacking Congress over its “shifting stand” in Parliament, BJP said the Opposition party changed its stance when the Government agreed to a discussion in the Rajya Sabha with Swaraj ready to make a statement in the House.
Senior BJP leader and Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad maintained that Congress changed its stand in the afternoon and linked “running of Parliament” with resignation of Swaraj and other party leaders.
In reference to the Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh, Prasad also said that Parliament cannot discuss State issues as the Constitution does not provide for it. He said Congress cannot be selective about raising State issues and added that all parties could decide by consensus to break the parliamentary tradition of not discussing State issues in Parliament.
If the issues pertaining to States are to be discussed then BJP would raise cases relating to corruption linked to Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Birbhandra Singh and son-in-law of Congress president Robert Vadra and others. He said the BJP would also like to discuss “escape” of Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi and Bhopal gas tragedy-accused Warren Anderson from India.