New Delhi: The controversy over Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor's alleged involvement in the IPL franchise business stalled Parliament proceedings on Friday with angry Opposition members demanding an explanation from the minister, who denied any wrongdoing.
The furore over the matter saw both the houses being adjourned till Monday.
On Thursday, Parliament had witnessed uproarious scenes when Ppposition parties cornered the Government over the April 6 Dantewada massacre.
Tharoor, who came to make a statement in the Lok Sabha at noon, was unable to speak due to the din by Opposition members. He laid a copy of his statement in the house while Home Minister P Chidambaram did so on his behalf in the Rajya Sabha.
Earlier, as the Lok Sabha resumed at 1100 hrs IST on Friday, Opposition members rose to demand an explanation from Tharoor, who is alleged to have misused his official position to help his friend Sunanda Pushkar get sweat equity worth Rs 70 crore in the IPL Kochi franchise.
Amid noisy protests by Left and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said in the Lok Sabha: "The members are raising a particular issue. I assure them that the concerned minister will be asked to make the statement after the question hour. He will give his personal explanation in the house during the zero hour (after 12)."
With the protesting MPs demanding suspension of the question hour, Speaker Meira Kumar first tried to let this proceed as Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad was replying to questions. However, with the MPs refusing to quieten, the speaker was forced to adjourn the house till noon.
When the house reassembled, the protests continued and unable to read out his statement, Tharoor laid it on the table of the house, even as opposition members advanced to the speaker's podium. The house was then adjourned till 2 p.m.
When the house reassembled, the uproar continued, forcing the speaker to adjourn the house till Monday.
Similar scenes were witnessed in the Rajya Sabha as it assembled, with S.S. Ahluwalia and Ravi Shankar Prasad of the BJP, supported by MPs of the Samajwadi Party, the Janata Dal-United and the Asom Gana Parishad demanding that question hour be suspended to discuss the Tharoor issue.
Chairman Hamid Ansari, however, refused to relent and he adjourned the house till noon as the protests continued.
A procedural wrangle ensued when the house met again, with Deputy Chairman K. Rahman Khan saying he was prepared for a discussion but that no notice had been received.
"We will not discuss this during zero hour. We want a proper discussion," Ahluwalia thundered.
Chidambaram tried to placate the members but the opposition was in no mood to relent, and a group of MPs led by Vinay Katiyar of the BJP advanced to the chairman's podium.
Khan then called on Chidambaram to read out Tharoor's statement. He read its opening two paragraphs before tabling it as the noisy scenes continued. Khan then adjourned the house till Monday.
Tharoor, in his statement, clarified that he had not misused his official position and his "mentoring" the Kerala consortium of the Kochi IPL franchise was within the "bounds of appropriate conduct".
"No misuse of my official position was involved," Tharoor said in the statement that he later read out to reporters outside Parliament House.
"My role in mentoring the Kerala consortium was throughout within the bounds of appropriate conduct for a Member of Parliament from Thiruvananthapuram and a member of the union council of ministers," Tharoor said.
Tharoor said "the unexpected success of the Kerala consortium was apparently not acceptable to some interested parties" that has led to the allegations about the composition and ownership of the consortium and his role in it.
He said the issue had nothing to do with his ministry. "As a minister, I was in no position to influence the bid process, let alone its outcome. I did not grant any favours or benefits within the purview of my ministry to the members of the consortium.
"No one could have any idea what the various participants in the auction process would bid, and my official position gave me no advantage in this regard that could have been used to benefit the Kerala bid. Indeed my ministerial position was altogether irrelevant to the bid and so could not have been used or misused to ensure its success."
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