Opp, Govt won't budge; House suffers

Hopes of an early end of the deadlock in Parliament receded on Thursday with the ruling party and the Opposition hardening their stands and intensifying the ongoing war of words. While the BJP once again firmly ruled out the resignation of any of its leaders in the lalitgate and the Vyapam scam, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi asserted that there will be no discussion without Ministers’ resignation. 

With a determined Congress-led Opposition disrupting the proceeding for the third day in a row, Parliament could not transact any business. The ruling party countered the offensive in the lok Sabha by raising the issue of a Facebook post by Robert Vadra and seeking action against him for “demeaning” MPs.  The lok Sabha was adjourned for the day just after papers were tabled at noon, while the Rajya Sabha was adjourned at 2.10 PM after two adjournments. 

In the Rajya Sabha, leader of the House Arun Jaitley said Congress leader Anand Sharma had not sought the resignation of Ministers as a pre-condition for the debate in his notice to the Chairman on Thursday. It led to sharp exchanges of words between the Treasury and the Opposition benches.In the lok Sabha, the BJP tried to take the fight to the Congress camp by raising the Vadra issue and sought action against Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law for breach of privilege.

Drawing the attention of the House, BJP member Prahlad Joshi claimed Vadra had “demeaned” MPs and wanted the issue to be referred to the Privileges Committee of Parliament and Vadra’s deposition before the House. Joshi’s remarks angered Sonia Gandhi, who rose to protest strongly, leading her party members to intensify slogan-shouting against the Government. leader of Congress in the House Mallikarjun Kharge walked up to Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to urge her to expunge Joshi’s remarks as Vadra is not a member of the House.

Vadra, in the Facebook post, took a dig at the NDA Government. “Parliament begins and so do their petty diversionary political tactics... People of India are not fooled. Regret to see India led by such so-called leaders!!,” Vadra had said in his post.The Rajya Sabha too witnessed pandemonium with the two sides sparring over the modalities to have a discussion on the issue. While the Congress and other parties set a pre-condition that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj should resign before the debate can commence, the Government rejected the demand.

When Jaitley said Sharma’s notice did not mention resignation of Ministers as a condition for the debate,  CPM leader Sitaram Yechury claimed breach of privilege against Jaitley for accessing Sharma’s notice given to the Chairman.Jaitley countered by stating rules which said every member of the House is given a copy of the notice. He also retorted “please educate yourself on procedures,” adding, “Yechury’s illiteracy of rules does not make valid argument.” The BJP then demanded an apology from the left leader charging him with casting aspersions on the Chair.

Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his continued silence on recent scandals which have rocked his Government. Asserting the party’s line “there will be no discussion without resignation”, Rahul accused Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj of committing a “criminal act,” by helping fugitive lalit Modi to procure travel documents from the British authorities while he was under investigation by the Indian Government for financial irregularities in connection with the IPl cricket tournament.

“Sushmaji has done a criminal act. She is a Minister and the whole country knows she has done a criminal act. If you do a criminal act, you go to jail,” Rahul said, while interacting with the media outside Parliament. Parliament has witnessed a washout since the Monsoon Session began on July 21 with the Congress-led Opposition aggressively pressing for ouster of Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, as also Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, rejecting the Government’s offer for a debate.

Referring to Modi’s promise of zero corruption, Rahul said, Modi “talks in the air” and his promises are like “gas coming out of a balloon.”On Vyapam issue, Rahul asked how Modi could be silent when 40 people connected with the deadly scam have died since 2010. “You are not the Prime Minister of the BJP, you are the Prime Minister of India, you are the Prime Minister of the public. listen to the voice of the public, they want to know what you are thinking,” he said. 

Earlier, Rahul, along with leader of the party in the lok  Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, met NCP’s Tariq Anwar, JMM’s Vijay Hansdak and AAP’s Bhagwant Mann just before the House sat for the day.Soon afterwards, Question Hour in the lok Sabha was washed out for the second consecutive day as the Opposition continued its protest over the lalit Modi controversy.