By IANS,
New Delhi : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Left parties staged a walkout in the Lok Sabha minutes before the month-long budget session concluded Friday over the spiralling prices of essential commodities.
The BJP members were led by Leader of Opposition L.K. Advani, who said: “The government should not forget that you won the elections in the name of the aam aadmi.” As they walked out, the Left parties followed them, stewarded by Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Basudeb Acharia.
The members of the main opposition party were on their feet condemning the government for “not coming up with any proper solution” to the rising prices.
They were protesting against the reply given by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar to a special discussion on increasing prices of essential commodities in parliament.
In his reply, Pawar expressed concern over the spiralling prices and said it affected other countries also, besides India. He added that the monsoon had worsened the situation, and said: “This is not an issue to play politics with and everyone had to jointly address it.”
The opposition members were shouting that the minister’s reply offered no details of the government’s strategy to deal with the economic crisis, aggravated by delayed monsoon.
While walking out, Advani also said: “We will come back to the house to attend the ‘Vande Mataram’ (function).” The Lok Sabha was adjourned sine die after the singing of “Vande Mataram” prayer by all members.