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Parliament Logjam: Govt rejects demand of resignation, Opposition disrupts both houses

By FnF Correspondent | PUBLISHED: 03, Aug 2015, 15:42 pm IST | UPDATED: 03, Aug 2015, 15:48 pm IST

Parliament Logjam: Govt rejects demand of resignation, Opposition disrupts both houses New Delhi: Congress on Monday objected to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's statement in the Rajya Sabha saying it was made without notice and urged Chairman Hamid Ansari not to take it on record claiming it was "illegal".

Vociferous protests by Opposition members led by the Congress continued in the Lok Sabha today as Speaker Sumitra Mahajan warned several of them of action if they did not stop displaying placards, forcing the adjournment of the House for almost two hours.

The noisy scenes began soon after the House assembled and expressed grief at the loss of lives and property in different parts of the country due to cyclone and floods.

When the Question Hour was taken up, over 30 members of the Congress trooped in to the Well, raising slogans and holding placards demanding resignation of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and the Chief Ministers of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh over the Lalit Modi and Vyapam issues.

Members from SP, RJD and JD(U) too were in the Well with placards demanding that caste census data be made public, while some TRS members, also holding placards in the aisles, sought a separate High High Court for Telangana.

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, standing at his seat, was seen thumping the desk as his party members continued sloganeering in the Well.

As repeated pleas from the Speaker to the agitating members to put down their placards went unheeded, she named several of them, including Gaurav Gogoi, Sushmita Dev, Deepender Hooda, K C Venugopal and Rajiv Satav, and later warned them of action.

In her statement during the Zero Hour in Rajya Sabha, Swaraj had made the statement saying she had not made any request to the British government for issue of travel documents to controversial former IPL chief Lalit Modi and asserted that all allegations against her were "baseless and unfounded".

In its complaint to the Chairman, Congress members have taken strong exception to Swaraj making the statement "suo motu without any notice" and sought his intervention to ensure that the "illegal" statement is not taken on record, sources said.

Congress member Madhusudan Mistry had raised the issue in the House during the Question Hour but could not be heard in the din. The Congress members have now taken up the issue with Ansari.

Anand Sharma leads Congress attack on BJP, says "Sushma Swaraj's statement in Rajya Sabha can't be taken on record."

Anand Sharma asks the Secretariat to give notice to the media to not report Sushma Swaraj statement.

Swaraj managed to speak a few sentences in the Rajya Sabha amid slogan-shouting by Congress members seeking fixing of accountability in the Lalitgate and Vyapam scam but could not complete her statement.

Rajya Sabha adjourned till tomorrow 11:00 am after uproar by Congress.