The Opposition and treasury benches have been involved in a war of words over former Union minister, Kumari Selja's visit to a Gujarat temple in 2013.
The standoff between the government and opposition in Rajya Sabha over Congress leader Selja Kumari's remarks about her entry to a Gujarat temple was resolved today with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley withdrawing his comment and his ministerial colleague Piyush Goyal expressing regret.
The issue, which stalled proceedings in Rajya Sabha since yesterday, was resolved after negotiations outside the House among the leaders of various parties, mediated by Chairman Hamid Ansari and Deputy Chairman P J Kurien.
After lunch, when the House re-assembled after repeated adjournments, Mr Jaitley, who is also the Leader of the House, thanked the Chairman and Deputy Chairman for convening meetings of leaders to end the impasse.
"In view of Seljaji's statement that she had made no reference to the main Dwarka temple in her speech on Monday, and which she has reiterated yesterday also, the issue raised by me yesterday doesn't survive," Mr Jaitley said.
"The comments which have been made in the course, I leave it to the Chair to go through it. The concerned Minister Mr Goyal has already expressed regret for what he had said," the Finance Minister said.
Earlier in the day, Mr Goyal, Minister for Coal and Power against whom the opposition was protesting making comments on Ms Selja's remarks, had expressed regret but the Congress leader had refused to accept it.
Ms Selja, while participating in a debate on the Constitution on Monday, had alleged that she had faced discrimination at the temple when she visited there as a Union Minister some years ago as she was asked about her caste.