CAG report on CWG stalls Houses again

It was as if Parliament had willed itself not to run on Tuesday. For the second day, the Comptroller and Auditor General report on wasteful spending in organising the 2010 Commonwealth Games prevented Parliament from functioning. The height of the disturbance was Sports Minister Ajay Maken’s gesture of throwing down his headphones in a rage in the Lok Sabha when Opposition leader Yashwant Sinha made some disparaging comments about him, relating to a bag that Maken carried.

It was disruption from the word go. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Shukla said the Opposition last night had given the government to understand that a discussion would be allowed provided the government agreed to list a debate on the Opposition’s notice of privilege against Maken.

However, when the Opposition came to the House, the minister said, it had made up its mind that question hour should be suspended to discuss the privilege motion and the demand that Sheila Dikshit should resign as the chief minister of Delhi. The government did not agree to do this — MPs come to the House after making preparations to ask questions and Question Hour is rarely suspended. The government and Opposition clashed and both Houses were adjourned several times.

In the Lok Sabha, soon after Speaker Meira Kumar finished references to the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the main Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena members trooped topwards her podium raising slogans against Dikshit.

In both the Houses, Opposition members raised slogans ‘Ab toh yeh spasht hai, Sheila Dikshit bhrasht hai’ (now it is clear, Sheila Dikshit is corrupt).

The BJP criticised UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, currently in the US for treatment, for not asking Dikshit to step down after the recent CAG report found several irregularities in the Commonwealth Games. It also alleged that Gandhi was aware that after Dikshit it would be the turn of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to resign.

“The Congress is protecting Sheila Dikshit because it knows that after her it will be the turn of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to step down. Sonia Gandhi should explain why Sheila Dikshit is not being asked to resign. Why no action has been taken against her?” BJP President Gadkari asked.