Left parties today strongly objected to the passage of the budget in Rajya Sabha without debate, saying the practice of tabling speeches by members was not allowed by rules.
"In an unprecedented manner, the Chairman allowed the laying of speeches by all those wanting to speak on the budget. On the grounds of lack of time, the speeches were guillotined. We have recorded strong objections to this.
"... The Rajya Sabha rules do not allow the laying of speeches. This has never happened before. It's not good for parliamentary democracy," CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury told a press conference here.
He was accompanied by his party colleague Basudeb Acharia and CPI leaders D Raja and Gurudas Dasgupta.
Asked whether general elections would be advanced and whether the Left was ready for the exercise, Yechury said there was no such indication so far "but all parties have to be always ready for elections".
Referring to the continuous disruption of the House on various issues, he said several major legislations directly affecting the people, like the ones on food security, land acquisition, Lokpal, women's reservation or the one to link Aadhar cards to various schemes, have been delayed.
"It is an unusual way in which the proceedings have been disrupted, especially by parties supporting the government either overtly or covertly," said Dasgupta.
He said the government was "trying to hide its misdeeds and avoiding issues afflicting the people".
The CPI leader also claimed that the government was trying to appoint an official as the next Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) who had "tried to run down the existing CAG's report on the 2G spectrum allocation scam."
Dasgupta said "if this happens, then the CAG will be clipped and corruption will be covered up".
