Prime Minister displeased over opposition walkout from parliament

On Board Air India One, March 1 (ANI): Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on Monday expressed displeasure over the opposition walkout during the presentation of the budget roposals for 2010-11 made by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on last Friday.

Interacting with the media on board Air India One, Dr. Singh said: "What has happened is wrong, we (political parties) should set examples which should uplift the respect for parliament in the eyes of common masses."

The Prime Minister also asked the opposition parties to maintain decency, so that people have faith in the parliamentary system of the country.

"If your aim is that people take parliamentary system seriously then whatever the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and other opposition has done is just opposite to it," Dr. Singh said.

The entire opposition staged a walkout in the Lok Sabha in protest against the proposed hike in fuel prices.

Opposition members demanded a rollback of prices and don't want the parliament to function until the roll back is announced.

Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj initiated the walkout and was joined by all opposition parties, including the Left, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

The issue united the entire opposition as Communist Party Of India (CPI) leader Gurudas Dasgupta, SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, and RJD president Lalu Prasad joined hands with Swaraj. By Naveen Kapoor(ANI)