PM slams opposition for washout of Parliament session
New Delhi:Unhappy over wastage of Monsoon Session of Parliament, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday slammed BJP for ‘total negation’ of democracy and asked people to stand up against such attitude of disruption, warning that it would be a ‘grave violation’ of Parliamentary politics.
As turmoil-ridden session ended, he warned that the politics of disruption would be a “grave violation” of democracy and could lead to “deeply divided and disenchanted” country.
He maintained that the CAG report on coal block allocation should have been discussed in Parliament and Public Accounts Committee but the Opposition chose to cause disruptions.
“We have just ended a wasted session of Parliament. Both the Houses were paralysed because CAG has issued a report which rightly or wrongly has certain allegations about public functionaries,” Singh told reporters outside Parliament shortly after the end of Monsoon Session.
“We have great respect for the institution of CAG, but if we do respect this institution, we must be willing to debate its finding in PAC or even on the floor of Parliament which we have always been willing,” he said.
Without naming BJP, Singh said, “The Opposition chose not to take advantage of the subtle institutional practices dealing with the reports of CAG and insisted on disrupting Parliament. This is negation of democracy.”
The BJP fired back, with Sunshma Swaraj ‘reminding’ the Prime Minister that when he was leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha, they had stalled parliament over the Tehelka issue.
“Even over the coffin scam, they stalled parliament and called us coffin theives,” Sushma Swaraj said.
Backing her, BJP leader Arun Jaitley called irregularities in the allocation of coal blocks, a “textbook case of crony capitalism.”
Parliament could work only on six out of 19 days of sittings because of BJP’s unrelenting
