Anna's fast overshadows Parliament

Anna Hazare's fast today overshadowed parliament with Opposition utilising the campaign on the Lok Pal issue to the hilt to target the government, paralysing proceedings and forcing repeated adjournments.

The Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha were adjourned for the day without transacting any business after the two Houses witnessed two adjournments each.

It was trouble from the word go with BJP giving notices in both Houses for suspension of Question Hour to discuss the serious situation caused by lakhs of people in the country coming out on the streets to protest against corruption.

In the Lok Sabha, Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj hit out at the government saying "it cannot wash its hands off the protests which are a result of the deep-rooted corruption in the government."

"Scams after scams have been unearthed in the past one year which are of huge magnitude as compared to the earlier scandals," she said.

"Barely had the din died down on Adarsh housing scam, the 2G issue came to the fore followed by CWG, Air India and now the KG Basin," she said, adding people were saying that crores of rupees were stashed away in foreign banks and there were no funds to build village roads.

Swaraj dubbed the Lok Pal Bill introduced by the government in the Lok Sabha as "poor, weak and ineffective".

"The Bill brought by the government has neither teeth nor eyes. It is totally ineffective," she said.

The Lok Sabha also witnessed clashes between DMK and BJP members over issues to be taken up for discussion.

BJP members wanted an immediate discussion on corruption in the backdrop of Hazare's agitation, while the DMK pressed for a debate on Sri Lankan Tamils as listed in the agenda.