The Opposition parties, mainly the Congress, which is in a majority in the Upper House, has vowed not to let the House function smoothly unless Ms Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, whose alleged links with Lalit Modi have also given fuel to the Opposition, were removed. Jaitley, who met Sushma before giving a statement to the media, claimed that the Opposition does not want a discussion. “If you want to debate the issue, we can do that”.
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Meanwhile, the beleaguered External Affairs Minister was on Tuesday greeted in the Lok Sabha by a host of NDA members in an apparent gesture of backing her despite severe criticism from opposition MPs.
As soon as the House was adjourned for the day after paying tributes to departed members, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Swaraj were seen involved in an animated discussion near the front row. However, Congress members continued to disrupt the proceedings of the House.
While raking up the Lalit Modi issue, Sharma questioned the “humanitarian grounds” on which Britain was requested by Swaraj to issue the travel documents to him.
Congress leader V. Hanumantha Rao was seen holding a placard, demanding that Sushma Swaraj be sacked.
As opposition members sought the chair’s permission to speak ahead of the debate, Jaitley took a dig at the opposition by saying: “Are we going for a discussion or are we going to give a televised opportunity to Mr Yechury?”
Jaitley said the government offered that it was ready for a discussion on any issue but opposition rejected the offer.
“The prime minister has said there are no allegations of corruption; what is this”, Agarwal questioned, eliciting an equally aggressive response from the ruling benches who protested the remark.
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Congress was joined by CPI(M) and Samajwadi Party in its demand for resignations, leading to uproar and five adjournments till 3 PM, when the House was adjourned for the day. They are likely to move an adjournment motion on Wednesday on Vyapam and on Lalit Modi on Thursday. The party has also been gunning for Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan over the multi-crore Vyapam scam.
