The second half of the Budget Session has seen constant disruptions and adjournments.
To end the logjam in the Parliament, the Lok Sabha Speaker today held separate discussions with all parties, urging them to let both the houses conduct business without interruptions. The union budget and finance bill should be discussed in the Parliament, he said.
Opposition parties have accused the BJP-led government of stalling the Parliament and using Rahul Gandhi's London remarks as an excuse to distract from their demand of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Adani-Hindenburg issue.
The government has said that the matter is being looked into by the Supreme Court, which has constituted a committee in this regard.
The BJP has been demanding an apology from Congress MP Rahul Gandhi for his remarks on Indian democracy on his UK trip. The Wayanad MP has sought time to respond to BJP's allegations that he asked for foreign intervention in India and insulted the country by question the state of India democracy abroad, but the ruling party has been protesting in both houses of the parliament, asking him to apologise first.
Rahul Gandhi has refused to apologise, and said he will respond to the allegations in the Lok Sabha. BJP sources, however, said they won't let him speak unless he apolgises first, even outside the Parliament.
Rahul Gandhi reportedly spoke at length about his speech in London at a Parliamentary panel meet on Saturday. He said that he only raised questions about India's democracy, and could not be labelled "anti-national" for that, according to sources.
Mr Gandhi, at the Parliamentary Consultative Committee chaired by the External Affairs Ministry, also said that he did not ask any other country to intervene. The former Congress chief told the leaders present that he believes this is an internal matter, and they will solve it, sources said.
The BJP, however, contested that it was not the right platform to talk about it. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar reportedly stopped Rahul Gandhi from replying to the BJP's accusations, and told all the leaders to say these things in the Parliament.
At Cambridge University, Mr Gandhi had said that Indian democracy is under pressure and opposition voices are being stifled. "The institutional framework which is required for democracy -- Parliament, free press, and the judiciary, just the idea of mobilisation, and moving around all are getting constrained. So, we are facing an attack on the basic structure of Indian democracy," he had said.
The second half of the Budget Session has seen constant disruptions and adjournments as the BJP and opposition parties have locked horns over their respective demands.
Leaders of opposition parties, including those from the Congress, DMK, RJD, CPI-M, CPI, NCP, JDU, AAP, and Shiv Sena, met in the chamber of Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge in Parliament House complex this morning and coordinated their strategy. They later addressed the media after the first adjournment of both houses.