All-party meet fails to break Parliament logjam

But this could dilute the two-week-long campaign of the Congress, Left and others on the issue of the resignations of Union minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje in the “Lalitgate” and Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan over the Vypam scam.

As Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge pointed out in the House, that the entire opposition was listening silently to the statement as part of the consensus against the attack, when Singh disrupted this by his “rampaging remarks” against the Congress party.

Kurien welcomed the agreement between the two sides, and said more efforts should be made to resolve the logjam.

He also took a swipe at Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi’s interaction with students at FTII where he attacked the government over Gajendra Chauhan’s appointment as chairman, saying he was not keen on discussing the issue in Parliament.

Seeking to end the impasse, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venlaiah Naidu had said the Prime Minister will be prepared to make an intervention during a debate on the Lalit Modi and Vyapam issues.

“Democracy is being murdered”, cried Congress president Sonia Gandhi after leading a protest of party MPs inside the Parliament complex.

“It (the three BJP leaders’ fate) should be on the agenda for the discussions”, Azad has said.

Congress should reconsider its stand of stalling Parliament, he said. “As and when required, if there’s a want Prime Minister will additionally intervene, no drawback on that account”, stated Naidu.

The monsoon session of parliament, that began on July 21, has so far not been able to transact any major business due to repeated adjournments.

The party workers took out a rally, carrying Congress flags and raised slogans like “Narendra Modi Hosh Mein Aayo” and “Bhajpa ki tanashahi nahin chalegi”.

“The credit for the parliament work belongs to the responsible and mature opposition whereas the blame for derailment in the previous 10 years lies with the BJP“, Sharma said. With Opposition not relenting, the ministers have repeatedly accused them of “running away” from a debate.

“The Congress party is resolute and duty-bound to ensure accountability for acts of commission, omission and abuse of office and gross impropriety”. Congress has already asserted that it would not attend such a meeting until the government comes with a tangible proposal. Or perhaps we should ask: “is this the Modi model-benefit the few at the expense of the many leaving the vulnerable to fend for themselves”, she said. Making clear that her party won’t pipe down from the Lamo and Vyapam protests and demands, she said, “the BJP is the author of “resign now, debate later” principle which it had used in at least five occasions during the UPA rule”.