Cong-Trinamool spat feature of fourth straight day of Parliament washout

Congress MP Sushmita Dev, Trinamool's Kalyan Banerjee slug it out over issue of demand for resignations of BJP ministers

Both Houses of Parliament couldn’t transact any business on the fourth day of the monsoon session on Friday, even as the Opposition unity lay in tatters with the Trinamool Congress (TMC), Samajwadi Party (SP) and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) unwilling to support the Congress and Left parties on their maximalist position of “no resignation, no House”.

In the Lok Sabha, Congress MP Sushmita Dev and Trinamool’s Kalyan Banerjee had a spar just when the House was adjourned for the day at 11 am. Dev, an MP from Silchar, mocked the TMC for not joining forces with the Congress to demand the resignation of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje in the Lalitgate controversy and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in the Vyapam scam.

 

Dev said it must be because Trinamool chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had asked them not to because of investigations into the Saradha chit fund scam. Kalyan Banerjee shouted that no one had questioned the integrity of his party chief.  “I can even make remarks standing here... how could you do that? You have no political background. You are here because of your father (former Congress MP Santosh Mohan Dev),” Kalyan hollered, challenging Dev. Several Congress leaders, including Mallikarjun Kharge and Jyotiraditya Scindia, rushed to cool the tempers. Scindia was seen asking Dev to leave the chamber.

The government was hopeful that even the Bahujan Samaj Party would soon break ranks; the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) was a fence-sitter, while the Biju Janata Dal and All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazghagam (AIADMK) would also be supportive of the government’s efforts to revive the session to at least get the Rajya Sabha to pass the Goods and Services Tax (GST) constitutional amendment Bill by the fag end of the session.

 

In Anantpur in Andhra Pradesh, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi said the Congress won’t let the current session run until the BJP leaders quit. There was little effort from the government or the Congress, Left parties and Janata Dal (United) combine to find any middle ground to break the logjam. The war of words plummeted lower with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accusing Gandhi of indulging in “spit and run” politics. The BJP is peeved at some of the “personal” remarks that Gandhi has made on the prime minister, including how people will puncture his 56-inch (chest) to 5.6 inches on the land Bill.

 

Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said Gandhi had “crossed all limits of public life” by his use of indecorous language towards Modi and Swaraj. Senior Minister Nitin Gadkari said a criminal defamation might be filed against Gandhi if he failed to apologise for terming Swaraj a “criminal”. Javadekar said Gandhi was an “irresponsible and immature” leader.

In the morning, BJP MPs sat on a dharna in front of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi inside the premises of Parliament to protest against the government. Javadekar claimed the government was acting responsibly, trying to make the session run and was hopeful that Parliament would function from Monday. Javadekar didn’t disclose the efforts, if any, the government was making but said the Congress will realise its mistake because of the backlash of public opinion to let the House run from Monday.