Sadhvi issue: PM makes fresh appeal but standoff continues

For the fourth straight day, proceedings in the Rajya Sabha were washed out today over the row surrounding Minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti as Prime Minister Narendra Modi's fresh appeal to opposition to show "magnamity" by accepting her apology went unheeded.
While Rajya Sabha could not transact any business because of the uproar created by opposition members, several opposition parties boycotted proceedings in Lok Sabha for hours to press the demand for Jyoti's sacking.
The Rajya Sabha was adjourned repeatedly for four times before the final one just after 3 PM.
Upping the ante, leaders of nine opposition parties also issued a joint statement demanding a resolution condemning Jyoti's remarks who, they said, deserves "outright removal".

MPs belonging to Congress, Trinamool Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, CPI, SP and RJD, led by Rahul Gandhi, also staged a protest outside the Parliament House.
With the stalemate virtually washing out the proceedings of almost the entire week, Deputy Chairman P J Kurien directed leaders of opposition parties and the government to sit together and hammer out a solution by Monday.

The Prime Minister, who appealed in Rajya Sabha yesterday to put the matter to rest, spoke in Lok Sabha today, trying to mollify the opposition members.
He said he had disapproved of Jyoti's comments but the opposition should show "magnamity" in accepting her apology while keeping in mind her village "background".

Modi said he had taken a strong view of such comments at BJP's Parliamentary Party meeting even before the matter was raised in the House.
"I sternly directed that such words and language should not be used. I had disapproved of such comments. Nobody can approve such things," he said.
"The Minister has apologised. She is new. We also know her social background. She is from a village and has apologised. It is the duty of senior members of this House that if one of our colleagues apologises, we should show magnamity.