Uproar over Robert Vadra's Facebook post to Rahul's rage: Biggest highlights of Parliament on Day 3

The Rajya Sabha  as well as the Lok Sabha were once again disrupted  on Thursday with the opposition demanding the resignation of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and the chief ministers of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. As the Rajya Sabha convened, members from the Congress and other opposition parties were on their feet and did not pay heed to the government’s repeated statements that a discussion must be started. The situation was the same, if not worse in the Lower House. Within 10 minutes of the commencement of the lower house proceedings, several members from the opposition parties took out placards and raised slogans protesting against the Bharatiya Janta Party’ alleged role in the Vyapam scam and the Lalit Modi controversy. On a given day, Parliament works for six hours. Rough estimates peg the working cost of the two Houses at Rs. 2.5 lakh per minute.With practically no business being transacted in its first three days, the Monsoon Session appears to be headed for a washout, wasting crores of money because of adjournments.

 So here’s a brief list of what happened in Parliament today:

Let me talk!, No Sit Down! Can I please talk? House adjourned This is pretty much how the first hour of today was like in the Rajya Sabha before it was adjourned: [caption id=“attachment_2358922” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  PTI[/caption] In the Upper House, Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien gave up and said he failed to understand the point of the opposition’s protest. “I am at a loss to understand why this futile exercise because the other day there were some notices under Rule 267 to suspend business of the house… We suspend business of the house because this a topic is important. I heard both sides and said I permitted a discussion but a discussion did not happen…” “Yesterday also the same thing happened. The government agreed for a discussion, I also agreed for discussion. You wanted discussion,” the deputy chairman said to which the opposition clarified that they wanted action before a discussion, referring to the resignations. Kurien further said: “I agree with you… You want discussion with some condition. My point is your condition is something I can’t implement. If discussion is not happening what is the point of this protest?” he asked. Even the first two days of the monsoon session were washed out due to several adjournments. An upset Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and the black band protest: 

Meanwhile, Congress president Sonia Gandhi lashed out the government following reports that the opposition protest inside the Lok Sabha was not being shown on camera.

“That is their (PM Modi) way,” she said.

Rahul Gandhi on his part said this reflected Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘style of suppressing’. He even did an Arnab, demanding that the nation wanted to know why ‘Modiji’ was silent. “The PM had assured nation that ’na main khaonga na khaane doonga (won’t take bribe, won’t allow to take bribe)’. His credibility is going down,” the Congress Vice President said. “We want the Prime Minister to respond to the corruption charges against Sushma Swaraj and chief ministers of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. His words should carry weight,” Gandhi told reporters outside Parliament. “Sushma Swaraj has done a criminal act. She has signed papers for a fugitive from the law. The PM should answer for this,” Gandhi said, questioning Modi’s continuing silence on the charges against top ministers. “You are the prime minister of the country, not the prime minister of BJP,” Gandhi said. In Parliament, Congress MPs, wearing black arm bands, led protests in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. The uproar forced repeated adjournments, even though the government agreeed to discuss allegations against external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj.

Congress Lok Sabha MPs including Rahul Gandhi wear black arm bands to Parliament as mark of protest pic.twitter.com/tj2aRZI2TQ

— ANI (@ANI) July 23, 2015

LIVE BLOG: @INCIndia MPs wear black bands to #Parliament http://t.co/K0cXYahd0A WCTH LIVE: http://t.co/vrGxSu7JXP pic.twitter.com/eEvDSexeR7

— ABP News (@ABPNews) July 22, 2015

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Your scam is bigger than mine:  “If they want to target our chief ministers, which should have no place in a parliamentary session, we will give them some other chief ministers to discuss,”a senior BJP leader was quoted as saying by DailyO on condition of anonymity. It appears that a  “scam for a scam” strategy where the BJP plans to challenge the opposition’s allegations against Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje and MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan by raking up the controversies involving chief ministers of Congress-ruled Kerala, Assam and Himachal Pradesh, has not really worked in Parliament so far. As Firstpost, said earlier, BJP has also assigned its leaders to take up the issues of solar scam and bar bribery scam in Kerala, apart from the alleged scam involving flood relief funds in Uttarakhand. Rising suicides in Karnataka’s sugarcane belt will be another issue. CNN-IBN reported this morning that  BJP will also raise the issue of alleged kickbacks received by Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh from a steel company. The Modi government also plans to attack the Trinamool Congress to raise the issue of the recent abduction of a minor girl, Tuktuki Mondal, in South 24-Parganas.

Monsoon Session. It's Raining Scams. Result: Parliament Washout #ScamVsScam

— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) July 22, 2015

The  government even remained defiant saying ‘disrupt of discuss, there will be no resignation’,  but the opposition was adamant on its demand for ’no discussion without resignation, resulting in a complete washout of the third session of Parliament. Because a Facebook post is more important than passage of key bills:  BJP Chief Whip Arjun Ram Meghwal told the Chair about his breach of privilege notice against Congress chief Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra. He alleged that Vadra has demeaned parliamentarians in his Facebook post. “He cannot do that…nobody can do that,” Meghwal shouted in the din. “Parliament begins and so do their petty diversion political tactics… People of India are not fooled. Regret to see India Led by such so called leaders !!” Vadra had said in his FB post.   A_nd this is how the Twitterati viewed the Parliament session_

An MP in LS screaming about a Facebook post of Vadra, demanding he be punished for insulting parliament. Yeah sure. An FB post bothers you

— Smita Prakash (@smitaprakash) July 23, 2015

6 mins is all it took for Lok Sabha to be adjourned. Rajya Sabha follows the same route after 23 mins. Cost to the exchequer- Rs 162 crores

— Janta Ka Reporter (@JantaKaReporter) July 23, 2015

Parliament adjourned again. I think every college class room should have a speaker who can adjourn class if people r not in the mood for it.

— Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) July 22, 2015

Opposition adjourns the Parliament because debates which can impact 3-4 persons are more important that discussions which impact millions

— Rahul Raj (@x_rahulraj) July 23, 2015

Not sure which is superior: the Pandemonium in Parliament or the Noise in the Newshour

— Madhavan Narayanan (@madversity) July 22, 2015

MPs in Lok Sabha n RS r always united when it comes to hike in their incentives, but they cant be united when national issues r concerned.

— Radhika (@vinkumadhok) July 23, 2015