BJP should have expressed remorse: CPI(M)

New Delhi, Aug 11: The CPI(M) today deplored the Leader of the Opposition L K Advani's statement standing by the NDA chairman Atal Bihari Vajpayee's ''derogatory'' letter and said the BJP had chosen not to express ''remorse or regrets''.

''It reflects on them... not us,'' CPI(M) Parliamentary group leader Sitaram Yechury told newspersons here.

At a press conference, Mr Yechury said Parliament decorum and decency demanded that the BJP should have expressed regrets. ''They (BJP) have chosen not to express remorse... it reflects on them and not us.'' Earlier, party Floor leader in the Lok Sabha Basudeb Achariya said that during his 26 years in Parliament, he had never come across such ''an insinuation'' by any MP towards the Chair. ''When it has been done by such a senior Parliamentarian like Mr Vajpayee, it is allthe more unfortunate.

''What we had expected was that the Leader of the Opposition should have expressed regrets .. as those parties who are not in the UPA fold have also taken a serious view of this development,'' the CPI(M) leader said, adding that the sole aim of the saffron party was to weaken and demolish the Parliament system of the country.

Mr Achariya said the BJP had disrupted as many as 143 hours of the Lok Sabha since the UPA government took over.

Party chief whip in the Lok Sabha, Rupchand Pal, termed Mr Vajpayee's letter as ''unwarranted'' and said the tenor of the language of the letter simply denigrated the institution of the Lok Sabha Speaker which was not acceptable to them.

Earlier during the day, Mr Advani said in the Lok Sabha that the Opposition ''strongly endorsed every word in the letter''.

The Left leaders also said that the BJP had obstructed the business of the House in a way that only six to seven days were left for the purpose.

''We have given notices for discussions on very urgent issues like the devastating floods, labour laws violation and agrarian crisis but the BJP did not allow us to speak,'' the Left leaders said.

Besides, the supplementary budget was also to be passed by the Lok Sabha, they added.

UNI

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