TIOL HERALD CASE
NEW DELHI, Dec 8: Parliament failed to transact any business on Tuesday as both Houses were adjourned following ruckus by Congress parliamentarians over the tiol Herald case.
Minutes after the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha assembled for the day’s proceedings, the Congress MPs in both the Houses created a din. While no Congress member specified the issue over which they were agitating, their vociferous protests came a day after the Delhi High Court declined to give Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi any relief in the tiol Herald case, asking them to appear before the trial court.
Terming it “petty vendetta politics of the BJP”, Congress members stormed into the well, shouting slogans against the government. Even as the Chair in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha kept asking them to spell out the reason for their protest, Congress members guided by a combative Sonia Gandhi, raised slogans like “down with dictatorship” and “vendetta politics won’t work”.
BJP members countered with slogans like “Bhrastachar ke khel mein, ma beta jayenge jail mein” (In the game of corruption, mother and son will go to jail).
Both the Houses were repeatedly adjourned before the fil adjournment minutes past 3 pm as Congress members were unrelenting in their protest.
The government meanwhile hit back at the Congress, insisting that it could not be dragged into a legal battle. “We don’t understand what has suddenly happened to the Congress? They are not letting the house function. It is undemocratic, unethical. The government has nothing to do with the case,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah idu told reporters outside parliament complex.
Minister of State of Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas qvi also accused the Congress of politicising the tiol Herald newspaper case. “The Congress has no issue to debate in parliament. Therefore, it is unnecessarily creating a ruckus. Congress ke iss vyavahaar se lagta hai daal me kuchh kuchh hi, balki poori daal hi kaali hai (it seem from the Congress behavior that the whole matter is fishy),” he told reporters here. The minister said it was up to court to decide who was guilty and who was innocent.
Union Fince Minister Arun Jaitley said the tiol Herald case was a matter of serious corruption and the government had nothing to do with the matter. He said the Congress should fight the case in court and not stall parliamentary proceedings.
“It’s a matter of serious corruption as funds collected for political purposes are being used for commercial activity,” Jaitley told reporters outside parliament house. (IANS & Agencies)