New Delhi: It was members of the treasury benches who were at the forefront of disrupting Parliament proceedings on Thursday even as Opposition parties, which seemed to be on the backfoot, agreed for a discussion on demonetisation without any conditions.
As Parliament headed for a near-complete washout of the Winter Session over demonetisation logjam, with just a day left for it to conclude, senior ministers in the Modi government pounced on media reports to target Congress president Sonia Gandhi over the alleged kickbacks in the VVIP copter deal, insisting that she respond to the charges.
Former defence minister A.K. Antony was quick to defend Mrs Gandhi, saying she had no role in the procurement and BJP will make a “laughing stock” of itself if it drags her name into the matter. He also said that the way BJP leaders were claiming that the CBI “will nail the culprits in two months” was not good for the agency investigating the AgustaWestland copter deal.
In both the Houses, ruling party members took the lead brandishing newspaper reports and shouting “we want to discuss Agusta”. For a change, the opposition was ready to discuss demonetisation, but the ruling party was in no mood to relent.
As soon as the Lok Sabha met for the day, the Opposition wanted a discussion on demonetisation to begin. However, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan conducted the question hour. When the Zero Hour began, both Congress and Trinamul Congress, that have been leading the Opposition charge, said they were ready to discuss demonetisation as and then.
“We are ready to discuss without any conditions,” TMC chief whip Sudip Bandopadhyay said.
Congress Leader of the House Mallikarjun Kharge also said that his party was ready to participate in a debate. However, Parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar said that the ruling side first wants a discussion on Augusta and the alleged exchange of demonetised currency by some top Opposition parties.
Mr Kumar referred to the VVIP copter scam issue, saying the “master middleman” Christian Michel has named “the first family of the UPA” and, therefore, the Congress is running away from debate. He said there should also be a discussion on the VVIP copter scam. This led to furious Congress members again storming the Well raising slogans denouncing the Modi government.
The Rajya Sabha, meanwhile, saw sharp exchanges between Treasury and Opposition members as they tried to outshout each other over different issues.
The Opposition, led by Congress, said demonetisation along with vagaries of weather had hit the farmers and demanded farm loan waiver to give relief to them.
Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said the ruling side was not allowing Parliament to function, which was “unprecedented”.
“It is the ruling party which is disrupting the House... in both Houses (of Parliament), it is the ruling party which is not allowing the Parliament to function. It is for the first time in the history of independent India that the ruling party is not allowing the House to function,” he said.
