Parliament: BJP-Cong slanging match continues for 3rd day

New Delhi, Aug 23: With both the

and the Congress showing no willingness to budge from their stated positions, Parliament was adjourned till tomorrow due to the furore over

.

In the Upper House, opposition MPs raised the slogan "Pradhan Mantri Istifa Do (Prime Minister Submit Resignation)" as soon as the members assembled for the day. Those sitting in the Treasury Benches retaliated with slogans hailing the PM as well as the UPA government.

Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari requested the MPs to take up the first listed query but the din forced him to adjourn the House till noon.

Though he met the floor leaders and discussed ways to end the three-day impasse, the meeting did not achieve the desired result.

When the House reconvened, MPs from the Treasury Benches and the opposition continued to trade charges. So the Rajya Sabha was again adjourned till 12.30 pm.

Since the situation was more or less the same when the members reassembled, the House was adjourned for the third time till 2 pm.

After Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs V Narayanasamy's attempt to introduce a bill was stymied by the opposition, Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien finally adjourned the House for the day.

In the Lok Sabha too, the main opposition party demanded the resignation of the Prime Minister over the Coalgate scam. In response, Congress MPs cited newspaper reports about the BJP opposing the auction of coal blocks in 2005.

As both sides loudly pressed their respective arguments, Speaker Meira Kumar adjourned the Lower House till noon. At 12.02 pm, she was compelled to go in for another adjournment.

Post the third adjournment some 30 minutes later, the Speaker said, "There seems to be a stalemate. Let's see when we can get over it. I wanted to have a meeting will all the parties. It's not a rejection. They have requested to have it later. I want it to happen as soon as possible."

Meanwhile, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi told her MPs that they need not be defensive and urged them to go in for a counter attack.

This meant that there was little room for compromise. Consequently, the Lok Sabha witnessed uproar at 2 pm. At this stage, the House was adjourned till 11 am on Aug 24.

OneIndia News