Parliament's functioning suffered during UPA rule: Advani

The functioning of parliament has suffered grievously during 10 years of the UPA government, senior BJP leader L.K. Advani said Friday and targeted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for not acting against his ministers creating indiscipline.

Advani, who released a book "India Uninc" at a function here, also took a dig at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for his "I am an anarchist" remarks.

Referring to continuous disruption of parliament on the Telangana issue and uproar over an MP using pepper spray in the Lok Sabha Thursday, he said he felt ashamed at the happenings.

"When you see members of cabinet leap into the well of the house (towards the speaker's podium), participate in the process of tearing up (papers) and all that and still continue to be ministers. All this is happening...." lamented the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader.

Attacking the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government, he said people were very angry over its performance.

"Not only has growth suffered but (functioning of) parliament has suffered a big damage. I cannot imagine, in the history of parliament, such bad 10 years," he said.

Advani said that the prime minister had called BJP leaders for talks on the issue of Telangana statehood bill even as he had expressed his own disappointment over the conduct of some members in the house including members of his party.

"Why he (the prime minister) does not react? Maybe (he) needs someone to direct (him)," he alleged.

Referring to Kejriwal's "I am an anarchist" remarks, Advani said a government's role was to establish order."What to say (about a person) who says I am an anarchist," he said.

BJP leader Subramanian Swamy and Vivekananda International Foundation director and former Intelligence Bureau chief Ajit Doval also spoke on the occasion.

The book has been written by R. Vaidyanathan, who has been teaching at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore for close to three decades.