We don't know what opposition parties want: Venkaiah Naidu on parliament deadlock

Commenting on veteran BJP leader L.K. Advani's concern of the prolonged impasse in parliament, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting M.Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday said the Centre is clueless as to why the opposition is not letting the Parliament function.

Naidu asserted that the Government is ready to debate on every issue, but the Opposition is not allowing any discussion to take place.

"Advani ji is angry, even we are perturbed, but the opposition is not allowing the parliament to function, this question should be posed to leaders of the opposition that why are they not letting the house function," said Naidu.

"The opposition has to think that for how many days will they stall parliament, they don't have any pertinent issue to discuss. We are ready to debate on every issue, but the opposition parties don't want to talk. I cannot understand their strategy, why are they disrupting parliamentary business," he added.

Advani earlier in the day expressed his dissatisfaction with the way parliament was being disrupted during the entire winter session which will conclude in the next eight days.

Advani said that neither the Speaker of the Lok Sabha nor the Parliamentary Affairs Minister were running the House.

He made these remarks after the House had adjourned for 15 minutes ahead of the lunch recess, with opposition MPs sloganeering in the Well of the House over demonetisation.

He demanded that action should be initiated against those lawmakers responsible for the continued deadlock in both the houses. He also demanded that there should be a cut in their salaries for their adamant attitude.

The BJP veteran asked the government to find a way out or ensure that Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan asks the protesting lawmakers to leave the Parliament.