Loud protests have washed out the first week of the monsoon session of Parliament
Four minutes after it convened this morning, the Lok Sabha was adjourned till Monday, a fourth day of work lost in the lower house this monsoon session. The Rajya Sabha saw repeated adjournments, finally for the day amid slogan shouting and protests by Opposition lawmakers.
Here are the latest developments:
A minute of Parliament in session costs the taxpayer Rs 29,000. Till this morning, a report said, there had been six per cent work and 94 per cent disruption in the session so far.
The short monsoon session, which began on Tuesday, has 18 working days. A deadlock in Parliament through the session will mean a loss of Rs 35 crore.
Crucial legislation, including a bill for the major tax reform the Goods and Sales Tax, is pending. In the Lok Sabha today, the government could not even table papers listed for the day.
The opposition is firmly united in its demand that three top BJP leaders caught in controversies must resign for the Houses to function.
"We are not seeking the resignation of the Government of India or any state government... instead of setting things right, they have gone on a dharna," Sharad Yadav of the Janata Dal (United) said to NDTV.
Mr Yadav was referring to a protest that BJP lawmakers staged this morning near Parliament's Gandhi statue today, holding up placards that accused Congress chief ministers of corruption, in a counter attack.
The government maintains there will be no resignation. "We said we are ready to discuss these issues but opposition seems uninterested," said Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made a pitch for parliamentary debate, saying, "People have a lot of expectations from MPs, we need to work towards fulfilling those." He cautioned lawmakers that the "world is watching."
The appeal has made no dent in the opposition's resolve. "The government should act on tainted ministers in the BJP if they want the House to function," said Mayawati of the Bahujan Samaj Party.
The opposition wants the government to remove Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje for helping tainted cricket mogul Lalit Modi, and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, for the Vyapam recruitment scam.
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