NEW DELHI : Issue of black money today dominated the Lok Sabha on the second day of the Winter Session with the House witnessing frequent confrontations between the opposition Congress, Trinamool and the government over the immediate suspension of Question Hour to discuss the matter and the ruling party firmly rejecting it.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu assured the Opposition that the government was ready for discussion on black money as it had nothing to hide but sought to remind the Congress that it did nothing during its tenure to bring back the unaccounted money stashed abroad.
However, the Opposition was unrelenting. The Trinamool members along with those of the Congress, the RJD, the AAP and the SP staged vociferous protests in the well holding black umbrellas with ‘kala dhan wapas lao’ (bring back black money) written on it. Speaker Sumitra Mahajan expressed great disapproval over their way of protest and frequently asked the members to put down their umbrellas.
The ruckus created by the Opposition, which, however, did not include the Telangana Rashtra Samithi and the BJD, stalled the government’s move to put the Delhi Special Police Establishment (Amendment) Bill, 2014 to vote. The Bill had been introduced by Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Jitendra Singh. The government, however, began discussion which would be continued tomorrow.
The Bill seeks to introduce a clause in the Act to make enabling provision for inclusion of leader of the single largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha as member of the committee for selection of Director of the Delhi Police Establishment. This has been done to prevent any vacancy in the committee if no party has been given the status of Leader of the Opposition.
Leader of the Congress in the House Mallikarjun Kharge and Sudip Bandyopadhyay of the AITC said the Bill was related to a serious issue and so should not be passed in a hurry. He did not relent though Mr Naidu agreed to defer the passing of the Bill till tomorrow.
The Congress and the Trinamool wanted that the discussion too should be deferred. When Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai, who was in the Chair, rejected the demand and motioned the listed speakers to begin discussion. Mr Kharge and Mr Bandyopadhyay decided to stage a walk-out, saying they could not be party to a hurried discussion on the Bill.
Along with members of the Congress and AITC, those of the RJD, SP and JD(U) also staged a walk-out. Earlier, Mr Kharge before staging the walk-out took a very agressive stance when Mr Naidu said they were adopting an disruptive approach.
He said it was on the issue of black money on which the ruling party contested the elections promising to bring it back within hundred days and also defaming the previous UPA Government launching a nationwide campaign against it.
Mr Naidu retorted saying, ”You should apologise to the country,” for letting the country’s money go away ”during your tenure.”
He said it was unfortunate that the Opposition were stalling proceedings at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was away from the country to attend the SAARC conference. (AGENCIES)
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