Janjivan Bureau
New Delhi: Senior BJP leader LK Advani on Thursday lamented the stand-off between the treasury and opposition benches in the Lok Sabha saying former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee would have been saddened to see the current sorry state of affairs in the House.
The House was adjourned till Friday following the ruckus as the opposition demanded a debate on demonetisation.
As soon as the House was convened, members of the ruling and opposition parties were on their feet with the opposition demanding a debate on demonetisation and the ruling party members waving newspapers at the opposition carrying reports of corruption in the Augusta chopper case during the UPA regime.
After the House was adjourned, Advani asked Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to take the Congress on board to prevent the possibility of the House being adjourned sine die on Friday.
Advani told Rajnath to approach the Congress on his (Advani’s) behalf. The veteran leader also counselled a group of members that it would be a shame on parliamentary democracy if political parties continued with their one-upmanship. He said there could be a debate on the last day of the session on Friday.
The House would be adjourned on Friday and it should not be on an acrimonious note, he said.
Advani, while having informal talks with a group of members after the adjournment, said he felt like resigning from the Lok Sabha on account of the continued pandemonium in the House. He said he was the chairman if the Ethics Committee but was not able to convene its meeting.
Earlier, the Opposition sprang a surprise on the ruling party by expressing its willingness to forego the condition of voting for having a debate on demonitisation. “Let us begin the debate straightaway,” said Mallikarjun Kharge of the Congress. Sharp division in the Opposition came to the fore about the debate.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said the Opposition was running away from the debate. “The Congress is running away. Rahul Gandhi is running away,” he said.
While PM Narendra Modi had made forays against corruption and black money, the Congress was trying to manage black money, he added.
