Live: BJP shouts for PM's resignation, Sonia says let them keep asking

12:50 pm: Let them ask, says Sonia when quizzed about Opposition’s demand Congress president Sonia Gandhi used the fewest words possible to respond to the Opposition’s demand for the Prime Minister’s resignation. “Let them ask,” the Congress President said to reporters. 12:20 pm: CAG report says Rs 13,000 crore lost in irregularities in MNREGA The CAG report which has been tabled in the Parliament reported says Rs 13,000 crore worth of irregularities in MNREGA, reports Times Now 12:10 pm: Standing committee report on coal lays blame on UPA and NDA A parliamentary standing committee report on coal block allocations has also left the government and former NDA government red faced after it has said that all the allocations were done in an arbitrary manner between 1993 to 2008. 12:05 pm: Lok Sabha adjourned for the day The Lok Sabha witnessed MPs from the BJP continuing to shout slogans against the PM and demanding his resignation. The Law Minister must do the same, they shouted. The Lok Sabha was adjourned till 11 am tomorrow. 12:00 Rajya Sabha resumes, BJP MPs shout slogans demanding PM’s resignation The Rajya Sabha continued on a stormy note with BJP MPs continuing to shout slogans demanding the resignation of the Prime Minister and the sacking of the Law Minister. The Lok Sabha also began proceedings with the same result. “What is this?” asks Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien. Then he adjourns the House till 2 pm. 11:15 am: Kamal Nath rules out any chance of PM resigning Just because the BJP asks for it, doesn’t mean the Congress will give in and ask the PM to resign. “In the last 9 years, BJP has asked PM to resign many times. They have sought it on various issues and incident. These things happen as part of politics. There is no question of PM’s resignation and the BJP is asking it just for their benefit,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath said. “We will debate the issue in the House. The principles of democracy shouldn’t be weakened by not letting Parliament function, they should come to Parliament and debate. The House belongs to everyone,” Nath said. Somehow the BJP doesn’t seem to be too interested in taking him up on his magnanimity. Communist Party of India’s Gurudas Dasgupta is far less charitable and says he also wants the PM to resign but not just because the BJP wants it. “The Prime Minister has been found to be wanting and did not do what he has said under oath to serve the interests of the nation,” he said. “PM is guilty of dereliction of duty in a number of accounts,” Dasgupta said. However, he also points out that he’s been saying it for some time and isn’t merely joining in the chorus raised by the BJP. 11:00 am: Rajya Sabha disrupted by MPs shouting slogans, LS fares no better MPs shouting slogans disrupted the Rajya Sabha almost immediately after proceedings began. After appealing to MPs not to walk into the well of the House, Chairman Hamid Ansari adjourned the proceedings till noon. Proceedings in the Lok Sabha were almost identical with MPs shouting slogans in the well of the House. Speaker Meira Kumar didn’t even bother wasting her voice telling them to take their seats and adjourned proceedings till noon. 10:40 am: BJP demands resignation of PM and Law Min over Coalgate controversy The BJP’s Ravi Shankar Prasad has demanded the resignation of the Prime Minister and Law Minister over allegations that they had tampered with the CBI’s Coalgate status report before the Supreme Court. “The PM needs to resign and Ashwani Kumar needs to be sacked,” a suitably emphatic Prasad said before Parliament proceedings began. “Reports said that the Law Minister was busy correcting grammar of the CBI affidavit, does the CBI need a tutor?” he asked. Only the CBI can say. He also said that the party was upset over the fact that former Prime Minister AB Vajapayee had been named by the JPC that probed the 2G spectrum scandal. 10:15 am: What is expected to happen in Parliament today Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde will reply to the debate on women’s safety in the Rajya Sabha. While he told the Lok Sabha in a statement that rapes weren’t Delhi-centric yesterday and took place across the country, he might just tone down his statement for the Upper House. Or maybe not. Finance Minister P Chidambaram is likely to move the long-pending Insurance Bill in Rajya Sabha which seeks to raise foreign direct investment cap to 49 per cent in the sector from the existing 26 per cent. The CAG is also expected to table its reports on the MNREGA and disaster preparedness of the country, both of which are likely to only give further fodder for the Opposition. However, one report that will leave the NDA and UPA red-faced is a Parliamentary panel report which says that all coal block allocations between 1993 to 2005 were done arbitrarily and at a loss to the exchequer. 10:00 am : Logjam to continue in Parliament While the Lok Sabha was adjourned the whole day barring the brief calm in order to condemn the Delhi rape case, the MPs in the Rajya Sabha spent the day debating about the safety of women and whether they could debate the CBI’s controversial status report on Coalgate. [caption id=“attachment_720445” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Reuters[/caption] Today looks like it will be another one of those days with the Opposition continuing to take on the government over various issues. The BJP has already sought a suspension of Question Hour so that they can finally debate the CBI’s status report on the Coalgate scandal. Meanwhile, also pending is the privilege motion moved by the DMK against Joint Parliamentary Committee chairperson PC Chacko for the leak of the draft report of the probe into the 2G spectrum scam. The Lok Sabha is unlikely to function again today as MPs are likely to raise a range of issues ranging from the CBI report, the JPC draft report, the heckling of Mamata Banerjee outside the Planning Commission office and the Delhi rape.