New Delhi:
In an effort to ensure that the Rajya Sabha functions, Chairman Hamid Ansari has offered structured debates on all issues that the opposition wants to raise. He has already allowed a discussion at 2 pm on growing crime against women after the Opposition created a ruckus over the brutal rape of a five-year-old girl in Delhi last week.
However, due to continuous ruckus by Opposition MPs, the Rajya Sabha was adjourned till 12:30 pm.
The Lok Sabha too was adjourned for an hour as soon as the House reconvened for the rest of the Budget session. It has now been adjourned for the day. Just before Parliament resumed this morning, the Prime Minister said, "It's my sincere wish that the House is allowed to function. We have many important bills to discuss."
The BJP and the Left have said they also plan to rake up the coal scam and the telecom or 2G scam; in both cases, it says, the government has engineered deceit to defend the Prime Minister.
"The government has forfeited the right to seek cooperation," said BJP leader Arun Jaitley to NDTV today.
The coal scam is being investigated by the CBI. Law Minister Ashwani Kumar and members of the Prime Minister's Office allegedly changed the status report that the CBI submitted in the Supreme Court last month.
The coal scam is sensitive for the government because for some of the years under review, the Prime Minister held direct charge of the Coal Ministry.
The opposition is also seething over a parliamentary committee report on the telecom or 2G scam which has absolved the Prime Minister and Finance Minister P Chidambaram of any responsibility for the swindle, the result of alleged malpractices by then telecom minister A Raja which allowed ineligible companies to land cheap licences and free second-generation or 2G spectrum.
The report that clears the PM is headed by Congressman PC Chacko. The Left and the BJP have said they disagree with its findings and have described it as a "Congress document." They also accuse the government of leaking the report.
In the first part of the Budget session, the PM's minority government lost its second-biggest member, the DMK.
It needs all the numbers it can cobble up to pass several money Bills, including the Finance Bill, and other key legislation like the Land Acquisition Bill, Food Security Bill, Insurance and Pensions Bills.