 "Opposition to meet President tomorrow, Lok Sabha remains stalled")
The highlight of the penultimate day of a washed-out winter session of Parliament was an exasperated L K Advani, senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, stating he felt like "resigning" from the Lok Sabha.
Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi tweeted a little later: "Thank you Advaniji for fighting for democratic values within your party." Gandhi had earlier accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of being "autocratic". However, other BJP seniors were dismissive about Advani's comments.
The session is slated to end on Friday morning, with the action shifting outside Parliament as 15 parties, led by Rahul Gandhi, would be meeting President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan at 12.30 pm.
A number of press conferences are also scheduled, including of the Congress and Trinamool Congress, to talk about future strategy to protest currency demonetisation. It is still not known if it would be Gandhi himself or another Congress leader who might unveil details of the alleged "personal corruption" of the PM. The BJP is also preparing for the propaganda battle. National chief Amit Shah held a meeting of functionaries on Thursday.
On Thursday, as another day of proceedings in the Lok Sabha were washed out, Advani vented his frustration first to Textiles Minister Smriti Irani, who drew the attention of Home Minister Rajnath Singh standing nearby. Advani was heard telling the home minister to convey to the Speaker that she should ensure the House runs on Friday, to have a discussion on the note ban.
Also Read
Advani said the government should reach out to the Congress and the discussion should be held under whatever rule. According to Trinamool's Idris Ali, Advani said he was pained at the disruptions and so would have been former PM Atal Behari Vajpayee.
On December 7, Advani had expressed deep distress over the way the Lok Sabha was proceeding, saying neither the Speaker nor the parliamentary affairs minister was running the House.
On Thursday, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said she understood Advani's pain. Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said Advani was "clearly berating his own party".
On Thursday, ruling party members held placards about the Agusta helicopter scam. The opposition plans to tell the President that it is the ruling benches that have disrupted proceedings, while the opposition has been willing to take part in the discussion. It will also raise the issue of human suffering from the 'note ban'.
The Rajya Sabha proceedings on Thursday provided a peep into the opposition strategy, as members demanded a farm loan waiver in view of the hit to cultivators from the note ban and inclement weather.
