New Delhi: The stalemate in Rajya Sabha continued on Friday with opposition Congress remaining adamant on its demand for resignation of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and the government outrightly rejecting it.
The Upper House witnessed uproarious scenes with opposition and treasury benches trading charges against each other, leading to two adjournments during the Zero Hour and the Question Hour.
Soon after the House assembled for the day and obituary references were made, Congress members stood in the aisle and raised slogans seeking action against Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje for allegedly helping controversial former IPL head Lalit Modi and Chouhan for the Vyapam scam, forcing Deputy Chairman P J Kurien to adjourn the House till noon.
Similar scenes were witnessed when the House met again for the Question Hour as there was no let up in the Congress demand for the resignations, with the government slamming them for making "baseless allegations" and making it clear that
there was no question of agreeing to their demands.
Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad moved a motion that proceedings of the House be adjourned and Prime Minister Narendra Modi should come to the House and tell what action he has taken to ensure the resignation of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister in the Vyapam scam.
"The business of the House should be adjourned and the Prime Minister should come to the House and tell us what action he has taken for resignation of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister in the Vyapam scam. If Prime Minister comes and announces resignation, then we will listen," he said.
Rejecting the demand, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said the opposition members were disrupting the proceedings every day on the same issue even though the government has made it clear that it was ready for
a discussion.
But "nobody will resign, we have said it many times. Modi government will not act on baseless allegations," Naqvi said.
"Government has been saying from the very beginning that there will be no resignation. This government is not functioning to oblige you. We are ready for a discussion. You are running away from a debate," he said.
"You are trying to hurt the country's progress and development and people will teach you a lesson," the Minister said, leading to sharp exchanges between the two sides.
Soon, Congress members entered the Well and created uproar, Chairman Ansari adjourned the House till 1 PM.
When the House reassembled, the House was adjourned for the third time till 2.30 PM.
Azad recalled that in the Narasimha Rao government when he was Parliamentary Affairs Minister, the opposition had demanded the resignation of then Foreign Minister and he had apprised the Prime Minister about it and the Minister had resigned.
"I told the Prime Minister about the opposition demand, the Foreign Minister resigned and we announced the same in Parliament," he said, recalling that Atal Behari Vajpayee was then the leader of Opposition.
When Chairman Hamid Ansari tried to take up the Question Hour, unrelenting Congress members kept shouting slogans demanding the resignation of Swaraj, Raje and Chouhan.
Raising the issue, Congress leader Anand Sharma said the opposition demand has consistent but it has got no reply from the government on the points he has been raising.
Soon after the House mourned death of its former member Sarada Mohanty and papers were laid on the table, Kurien said he has received four notices for suspension of business to take up discussion.
"Earlier also I agreed to suspend business (on similar notice) but the motion was not moved. What is the point," he said and asked Congress members if they were ready to move the motion on Friday.
Sharma said while the motions of past are past, the motions moved on Friday were independent motions. The motions seek a response from Prime Minister "to our demand for accountability and action."
"We are within our right to move the motion and demandaction," he said, adding the government has not agreed to Congress party's demand. Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said Leader of the House and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley as well as other ministers have already stated that the government was ready for a discussion and it should start immediately.
"Please start discussion immediately," he said, accusing the opposition of "running away from discussion." To this, Sharma said Prasad was "suffering from selective
loss of memory... we want tangible proposition (on the demands)."
Kurien said the motion demands discussion on the Vyapam scam and Prime Minister's response to it while fixing responsibility. "They (government) are ready for it," he said.
But the Congress members were not satisfied moving into aisle shouting slogans demanding resignations first. "Pehle istifa do (first resign)," they shouted. Amid the din, Kurien adjourned the House till 1200 hours.
When the House met at 1 PM, Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha made a statement correcting an answer to a question given on April 24 on "IRCTC to emulate online shopping portals".
After the Minister's corrected his statement, Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M) said this should not become a practice. "If corrections are there, they have to come to the
House," Chairman Ansari, however, said, as he adjourned the House till 2.30 PM.
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