PM invites BJP brass for meeting to break Parliament logjam

BJP was "dissatisfied" with the PM's statement on the missing coal files and disrupted proceedings

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, scheduled to leave for St Petersburg, Russia, on Wednesday, to attend the G20 Summit, invited Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders for a late-night meeting on Tuesday, in a bid to ask them to allow smooth functioning of Parliament.

Senior party leader L K Advani, leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and the opposition leader in the Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley, were invited for the meeting.

Though leaders from Left parties, the Trinamool Congress and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam had also raised questions on Tuesday in Parliament on the missing coal block allocation files, only BJP leaders were invited for the meeting.

Earlier in the day, the BJP was “dissatisfied” with the prime minister’s statement on the missing coal files and disrupted proceedings. The government stand is that the prime minister has fulfilled the opposition’s demand by making a formal statement but would not take any questions on it from the opposition. The opposition says Singh cannot evade answers and leave the issues raised by leaders to be answered by the coal minister.

Swaraj in the Lok Sabha had accused the prime minister “of leaving in a huff” after he left the Lok Sabha, while both houses witnessed noisy scenes on Tuesday, where BJP benches shouted slogans of “Pradhan Mantri bhaag gaye” (The PM has fled). Angered by the prime minister’s behaviour, Swaraj let it be known that she would not attend an all party meeting called by Speaker Meira Kumar, seeking to resolve the Lok Sabha logjam.

The BJP was furious that Kumar did not allow Swaraj to speak. Even Advani, who raised his hand seeking permission to speak, was ignored by the chair. "All norms were broken in the Lok Sabha. The leader of the Opposition was insulted when she was not permitted to speak. Her mike was muted. Even Advani, who rarely raises his hand to speak, was not allowed. Have you heard of any Parliament in the world where the leader of the Opposition is not allowed to speak?" asked BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain. It is possibly to alleviate all these feelings that the prime minister called Advani, Swaraj and Jaitley for the meeting.