Monsoon session marked by adjournments on Day 1

New Delhi: Multiple adjournments marked day one of the monsoon session of Parliament which predictably got off to a chaotic start on Tuesday with the opposition demanding the resignations of key Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, dressed in crisp white clothes, entered Parliament seeking cooperation but within minutes the much anticipated clouds of acrimony between the opposition and the ruling side overshadowed proceedings. Read more

The BJP appeared prepared for the moment and sought to turn the tables on the opposition by readily agreeing to a discussion in the Rajya Sabha on external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj’s links to former IPL chief Lalit Modi. Reports state that Swaraj too was ready with a statement on the issue. “I am ready with a statement, I was ready even today to make a statement in Rajya Sabha over the issue. I am looking forward to making it,” Swaraj said.

However, Mint reports that the Samajwadi Party and the Left parties escalated the confrontation by making the resignation of three BJP leaders—Swaraj, Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje and Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan—a precondition to the discussion. The government promptly rejected the idea, leading to a face-off because of which the Rajya Sabha got adjourned four times. The Congress members raised slogans and walked into the well of the House.

The Economic Times quotes finance minister Arun Jaitley saying that the Congress only wanted to disrupt Parliament and did not want to debate the issue. “We get a distinct and clear impression that the Opposition wants disturbance for some time. They don’t want a discussion. The government is publicly declaring, as we have in the House, that we are ready for a discussion in any format, at any time,” he said outside the House. Read more

Interestingly, the government maintained that matters linked to the chief ministers could not be discussed in Parliament. The BJP said that if a discussion were to take place on its chief ministers, then charges against chief ministers of opposition-ruled states should also be allowed. Sources said notices to discuss allegations against various Congress leaders in states under different rules have already been given in the Rajya Sabha by senior BJP members and would be given in the Lok Sabha when it meets on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Swaraj went about her business in the Lok Sabha which met just for obituary references. Though the opposition called for her resignation over her links with Lalit Modi, she conversed with MPs in her own party and was also seen in conversation with opposition members, including Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. Read more

Reports suggest that the BJP, after several rounds of meetings, has prepared a strategy for the second day of proceedings and is coordinating with its state units to collect details of charges against chief ministers in opposition-ruled states. BJP MPs have been asked to give notice under various rules to bring up charges of corruption or irregularities against Congress chief ministers.

In an interview with The Indian Express, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said, “BJP wants just to discuss, finish it off and run away.” Read more

See here for day one of Parliament’s monsoon session as it happened.