By IANS,
New Delhi : Indicative of the divisions within the opposition, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the Left parties, the Samajwadi Party, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the AIADMK separately walked out of the Lok Sabha Tuesday during Sports Minister M.S. Gill’s reply to the debate on the preparations for the Commonwealth Games.
Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj led the NDA walkout after expressing ire over Gill’s remarks that MPs could get more information on the cost of the Games stadia through a Right to Information application.
She claimed that the statement was tantamount to saying that the RTI was higher than the accountability of parliament.
“The statement is tantamount to demeaning the prestige and dignity of parliament,” Swaraj said.
The NDA members then noisily walked out of the Lok Sabha, even as the other opposition MPs stayed put.
Later, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav asked why the government was shying away from the demand by the opposition to constitute a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe the Games scam.
Though Gill assured him that “whatever enquiry should be done, that will be done properly” after the Games, an unsatisfied Yadav led his party MPs in walking out.
Members of the TDP, the AIADMK and the Left parties also pressed for a JPC but Gill did not yield.
These MPs then staged a walkout.