Presiding officers responsibility to make sure that parliament runs, says Jaitley

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday said that it was the responsibility of the presiding officers of the two houses of parliament -Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Hamid Ansari and their deputies to make sure that proceedings be conducted and carried out normally when parliament is in session.

Jaitley made this acerbic statement when an unrelenting opposition refused to allow proceedings to begin in both Houses on Monday morning, leading to adjournments till 12 noon.

"Your responsibility is to make sure the House runs. If the opposition is allowed to speak, the government must also get a fair chance to speak in the House," Jaitley to Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman P.J.Kurien before proceedings were adjourned.

With just four days of the monsoon session of Parliament left, the Congress has made it clear that the protests inside the House will continue if the government did not accept their demand of removing the minsters and chief ministers involved in Lalit Modi issue and Vyapam scam.

Twenty five Congress MPs who have been suspended for five days by Speaker Sumitra Mahaja for obstructing the lower House are back today.