Govt attacks oppn for stalling passage of key legislations

Amid continuing impasse in Parliament, government today attacked BJP for stalling passage of key legislations, including the Food Security bill, and said Karnataka election results will establish "who is corrupt."

"Tomorrow the result of Karnataka polls will be out and the people of Karnataka will demonstrate and show who they believe is corrupt. The people of Karnataka will establish this tomorrow," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath said a day before election results are declared in Karnataka.

Citing the results of 2012 assembly elections in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh where Congress formed government after defeating the BJP, he said, "Tomorrow it is their turn to be sent out of Karnataka."

Dismissing Nath's suggestion, senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi hit back at the Government saying UPA was not interested in "removing corruption" and normalcy will return to the House only after it act against "corrupt ministers".

Joshi also dismissed the suggestion that the Karnataka election results would establish who is corrupt.

Earlier, Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari and BJP General Secretary Rajiv Pratap Rudy were engaged in a war of words over the Food Security Bill pending for consideration in Lok Sabha since last week.

Talking to reporters soon after Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day, Nath termed as "historic" UPA's Land Acquisition and Food Security bills and said other political parties, except BJP, want to discuss and pass them.

"On one hand, the BJP is saying that they want to have a discussion on the Land Acquisition Bill and Food Security Bill. Both these are historic bills. And on the other hand, they disturb the functioning of the House. It is very unfortunate that this session has been washed away," Nath, who also attended the Congress core group meeting, said.

He, however, refused to answer whether the House will be adjourned sine die before the last day of the Budget Session.