Sharad Yadav, Manish Tewari slam India Inc

Janata Dal-United leader Sharad Yaday and Congress leader Manish Tewari on Wednesday slammed India Inc, saying it was trying to dictate parliament's functioning.

"How can the corporates dictate the functioning of parliament?" Yadav asked in the Rajya Sabha.

He made the remark after the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) signed an online petition condemning the unending disruptions in parliament and urging both houses to legislate proposals like the GST.

Yadav said: "The capitalists, after 68 years of independence, are saying that parliament should run. They must know that 125 crore Indians have chosen parliament... They (corporates) want to run parliament?

"It is quite evident today that they (Narendra Modi government) came to power with support from the corporates," Yadav added.

Congress leader Manish Tewari hit out at India Inc too.

He said on Twitter: "Comical. Where was corporate India's concern when BJP wiped out session after session for 10 years?

"Rockefeller moment souring & ROPI (Return on Political Investment) floundering, now they want parliament to bow to their ditkat. Will it be a parliament of corporates?"

The online petition was signed by more than 15,000 people, including leading industrialists like Sunil Munjal, Adi Godrej, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Rahul Bajaj, Anu Aga, Ajay Sriram, Sumit Mazumder and Kris Gopalakrishnan.

The petition stressed that legislation like GST must not be stalled by the "perpetual disruptions" in parliament.

"Street demonstrations against the chair of the lower house are of unprecedented scale. The lower house is without some opposition members. The upper house is perpetually adjourned," the petition said.

"Important laws like the constitution amendments in Goods and Services Tax which improves India's growth rate is held up. GST has taken a long time in coming and has taken years of consensus building."

India Inc said GST would considerably contribute to the growth of the country and its states.

"Parliament did not get an opportunity to discuss important issues like floods, security, other economic priorities...

"We, therefore, urge all political parties to have a collaborative and consultative process in parliament," the petition added.