By IANS
New Delhi : Political differences over the Indo-US civil nuclear deal continued to rock parliamentary proceedings Friday with ruling alliance MPs staging voluble protests leading to adjournments of proceedings over a senior opposition leader’s virulent attack against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
In the din, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee rejected the opposition’s demand for a debate on the nuclear deal under a rule that entails voting, suggesting that parliament had “no competence” to decide on operationalisation of an agreement with a foreign country.
Chatterjee allowed a discussion on the deal Monday under rule 193 of the parliamentary proceedings, which will not entail any voting, contrary to the demand made by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
This is subject to the availability of Manmohan Singh in the house.
Left MPs, who have denounced the nuclear deal, were united Friday with the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) when Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi demanded an apology from National Democratic Alliance (NDA) convenor George Fernandes for his remarks against the prime minister.
Fernandes was quoted saying in a newspaper that if Manmohan Singh was China’s head of government, he would have been shot for “bluffing” to the nation about the nuclear deal with the US.
“He should apologise or the House should condemn (his remarks),” Dasmunsi said amid shouting from Congress MPs.
Although Chatterjee said he could not force Fernandes to apologise for a statement he had made outside the Lok Sabha, the MPs continued to protest leading to an abrupt adjournment of the proceedings just before lunch.
When the house reconvened, Congress MPs continued to insist on an apology and the house was again adjourned till 3.30 p.m., but only to take up the private members bills.
The Rajya Sabha also witnessed repeated adjournments over the “insulting” remarks against Manmohan Singh.
Earlier, Chatterjee clarified that it was the right of the central government to enter into treaties and agreements with foreign countries.
“Any such treaty or agreement becomes effective without any intervention by parliament,” Chatterjee said.
His clarification came as a response to the opposition’s notice for a discussion on 123 agreement between New Delhi and Washington under Rule 184 that requires voting.
Rejecting the notices, the speaker said: “There has been no occasion where any treaty or agreement was ever discussed under Rule 184.”
The notice given by Bharatiya Janata Party leader L.K. Advani and Samajwadi Party leader Ramgopal Yadav wanted the government to “re-negotiate” the deal.
Both the United National Progressive Alliance and BJP have been demanding voting on the issue to embarrass the government ever since the monsoon session of parliament got underway Aug 10.
By asking the government to re-negotiate the pact, the motion “in effect seeks to disapprove the agreement entered into and to require the government not to give effect to the agreement in its present form and contents, which the house has no competence to do”, Chatterjee said.
He said: “It will clearly amount to the house rejecting the agreement in its present form.”
However, speaking in the Lok Sabha later, Advani, Leader of the Opposition, sought enactment of a law to make it obligatory that treaties and agreements should be ratified by parliament. The Left parties, which support Manmohan Singh’s government from outside, also have made this demand earlier.
Although Advani claimed that External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s remarks that Hyde Act would not binding on India was wrong, the latter reiterated that New Delhi was not bound by the act passed by the US Congress.
Mukherjee said while Advani was quoting Nicholas Burns, US Under Secretary of State, he was talking on the basis of what US president George W. Bush said that India was not bound by Hyde Act.
“Let us have a debate and let the country know what is right and what is wrong,” he said.