Congress and NCP today stunned Speaker Sumitra Mahajan by walking out of the meeting of the Business Advisory Committee of the Lok Sabha after she insisted on deciding the business for the week ahead in the midst of the deadlock over the Lalit Modi issue.
Jyotiraditya Scindia of the Congress and Tariq Anwar of the NCP left the meeting as their pleas that the business should be decided only after the deadlock in the House is resolved did not find favour with the Speaker, sources said.
Saugata Roy of the Trinamool Congress, P Karunakaran of the CPI-M and the BJD representative also supported the stand of Scindia and Anwar.
The contention of Scindia and Anwar was that deciding any timetable for the business for the week ahead would be an infructuous exercise given the fact that the House is witnessing a stalemate over the Lalit Modi issue.
"Unless government resolved the deadlock, it would not be proper to decide the agenda for the week ahead" was the refrain of the Congress and NCP.
Anwar merely said that after they failed to persuade the Speaker, he and Scindia left the meeting with her permission.
The walkout came hours after the Speaker had warned of disciplinary action against opposition members who indulge in disorderly conduct.
"In the event of disorderly conduct, I would be constrained to initiate appropriate disciplinary action against erring members," she said after Congress and Left members stormed the well of the house carrying placards to protest over the Lalit Modi issue.
