The second day of the monsoon session of Parliament seemed to be emulating day 1 when no proceedings took place thanks to opposition protests inside the house. Both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha saw repeated disruptions by a united opposition on the Lalit Modi scandal and the Vyapam scam that has resulted in more than 40 deaths.
Earlier, the Congress had decided to call off the protest that it had planned for this morning but its members chose to wear black armbands to Lok Sabha today. They were demanding resignations of External Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj and the Chief Ministers of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
The Lok Sabha was adjourned till noon when it convened at 11 AM amidst disruptions by the opposition. Similar scenes were repeated when it was reconvened and it was adjourned till 2 PM again.
Congress MPs also carried placards that read “Bade Modi Meharbaan To Chhote Modi Pehalwan” inside the house.
In the Rajya Sabha, the government faced fire from leader of the BSP, Mayawati and also the General Secretary of the CPI(M), Sitaram Yechury. Arun Jaitley, the leader of the house, reiterated the government’s stand that they were willing to discuss the Sushma Swaraj issue but Vyapam was not under the central government so it could not be discussed in the parliament. Mayawati demanded the resignation of the Rajasthan Chief Minister, Vasundhara Raje, while Yechury contended that since people linked to Vyapam scam have died outside Madhya Pradesh too, so it cannot be categorized as a state issue. “Unless the ministers concerned resign pending central government investigation there is no discussion on it”, he said.
In the afternoon session in the Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley dared the opposition to discuss the matter while the opposition insisted on resignations.
Both houses were adjourned for the day when they reconvened at 2 PM. The action now shifts to Day 3 of the monsoon session on Thursday, 23 July 2015.
Earlier in the day, Sushma Swaraj had created a flutter by tweeting that a leader of the Congress party had requested her to provide a diplomatic passport to an accused in coal scam and that she will disclose the name in the parliament.
A senior Congress leader was pressing me hard to give diplomatic passport to the Coal Scam accused Santosh Bagrodia.@ANI_news
— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) July 22, 2015
I will disclose name of the leader on the floor of the House.@imTejasBarot
— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) July 22, 2015Last evening, the Congress leader Anand Sharma said, “Let me remind both Jaitley and Swaraj that it was they...who set new rule books and precedents that there can't be a debate unless the accused ministers in the scams quit. They did so in case of Ashok Chavan...during UPA rule."
The first day of the monsoon session on Tuesday had been a washout too with the opposition disrupting proceedings in the Rajya Sabha on the Lalit Modi and Vyapam scam issues. The Lok Sabha had been adjourned earlier in the day on after paying respects to the MPs who passed away since the last session of the parliament.
