LS adjourns till Thursday over demonetisation row

Following an uproar by opposition parties over the demonetisation issue, the Lok Sabha has been adjourned till tomorrow.

Union Minister Ananth Kumar said the government is ready for a debate and discussion on all aspects of demonetisation.

"The parliament session is very important. Poor people want demonetisation to be a success, they see Prime Minister as their messiah; opposition is overlooking the public's mood. Opposition is not allowing a discussion in the house by creating uproar. On the contrary, they are putting the blame on government," said Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting M. Venkaiah Naidu.

As the opposition parties continue demanding a debate, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan today turned down the demands of opposition parties for an adjournment motion on demonetisation.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, while leaving the Parliament, said the grand old party wants a debate under the adjournment motion and the government is scared to allow that.

"The Speaker is refusing to give us a debate under an adjournment motion. Question is not whether Prime Minister sits there, question is, are we being allowed to speak? There are 200 MPs who are standing outside today, who want a debate to be allowed in the Lok Sabha," he told media.

"We want to have a debate on the adjournment motion because the adjournment motion is a motion which has an element of censure in it, we wanted Prime Minister's presence," said former Union minister Kamal Nath while leaving the Parliament.

Responding to the opposition, Union Minister of State for Finance Arjun Ram Meghwal said that, "Under what rules the discussion will take place it is the prerogative of the speaker. The discussion took place in the Rajya Sabha and their arguments ended in two days. Now they have come up with fallacious argument to bring the Prime Minister in the house. We are ready for a debate,"

He further said that the government is ready for a debate and want to know the positive suggestions from the opposition parties in order to provide relief to the people by working on them.