UPA-NDA ties touch new low

In a sign of how low the relationship between the UPA and the NDA have sunk, the morning meeting of leaders at Speaker Somnath Chatterjee's office today saw BJP and Left members clashing loudly, with Chatterjee threatening to discontinue the meetings in future.

One BJP leader was so incensed with a suggestion that the supplementary demand for grants, which were to be debated in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, be passed even if there was a din in the House that he threatened to "stand on the chairs" to prevent such an outcome.

When Railway Minister Lalu Prasad asked the BJP leaders to behave in a dignified manner, he was reminded of his Opposition days when "he would tear up agenda papers right in the House".

The matter was not resolved even when the Lok Sabha convened, with the Left demanding that Vajpayee apologise to the Speaker for his letter.

The BJP countered that UPA leaders had got together and condemned the NDA boycott when NDA members were not present in the House.