New Delhi: The logjam in the Rajya Sabha continued on Monday even as External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj denied the charge of helping former IPL chief Lalit Modi in securing travel documents from the British authorities.
The main opposition Congress, meanwhile, objected to the minister’s comments alleging that she made a “statement” without permission from the chair, a charge which was later put down by Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien.
With the opposition raising the controversy around Lalit Modi, Sushma Swaraj who has been denying the charge outside parliament, broke her silence and said she has been waiting for the past two weeks to make her stand clear.
“This issue about me is being raised for the last two weeks. I had informed through the leader of the house that I am ready for discussion. Since last seven days, I am sitting here every day just so that a discussion may start,” she said amid the din in the house.
“But they don’t start the discussion, they just create ruckus. The facts this notice is based on are baseless and untrue… I never requested the British government to give travel documents to Lalit Modi,” said Sushma Swaraj.
After her remarks, the house witnessed two adjournments, and when it met post lunch, opposition leaders were up in arms saying the minister did not have permission to speak.
The Rajya Sabha witnessed heated arguments between the ruling and opposition benches, both sides quoting extensively from the rule book of the house, as the government said no rules were broken when the external affairs minister spoke, and she was responding to allegations being made against her for the last two weeks.
The issue was raised by Congress leader Madhusudan Mistry. “The leader of the house Arun Jaitley asked Sushma Swaraj to make a statement… It was without permission of the chair, it was not in business list either. This is against the rules,” he said.
To this, Deputy Chairman Kurien questioned if it was a statement or just a response to allegations.
As Congress members agitated, an angry deputy chairman also questioned how the opposition was questioning the government on not following rules when their own members have been flouting rules.
After a long and heated discussion, the deputy chairman said the minister had the right to respond to allegations against her and clarified it was not a statement.
Opposition members also raised the issue of the government making public the contents of a notice last week before it was admitted.
Jaitley said the notice was supposed to be circulated to all members to use in the debate on whether the notice should be admitted.
With the heated debate over rules, that lasted around an hour, the Congress members once again trooped near the chairman’s podium with placards and started sloganeering.
They shouted slogans saying “we want ruling” to which the treasury benches responded saying “we want discussion”.
In what appeared to be a response to the BJP’s allegations of Manmohan Singh being a mute prime minister, the Congress showed placards asking the prime minister (Narendra Modi) to break his silence and remove tainted leaders.
“Maun Modi chuppi todo (Mute Modi break your silence)” was the slogan the Congress raised as Kurien adjourned the house for the day.
The logjam in parliament has been continuing since the monsoon session started on July 21 and with an all party meeting on Monday reaching no conclusion, there appear to be dim hopes for the impasse to end.
The monsoon session ends on August 13.