Parliament logjam: NDA trains gun on Cong, Left MPs over monsoon session washout

New Delhi: The bitter confrontation between the BJP and Congress that was witnessed in the virtually washed-out monsoon session of Parliament will now play out across the country with the NDA deciding to take out marches and hold meetings immediately in the constituencies of Congress and Left MPs. Shortly after the session was adjourned sine die, the two sides indulged in a blame game over stalling of Parliament over Lalitgate and Vyapam scams and took to protests in the Parliament House complex. [caption id=“attachment_2127787” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP.[/caption] After the pep talk by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, senior ministers and MPs of the NDA, including L K Advani, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Rajnath Singh and Ram Vilas Paswan, marched from Vijay Chowk to the Gandhi statue inside the premises shouting slogans and carrying placards against the Congress. At a meeting of the NDA MPs, Modi asked them to fan across the country to expose the Congress, equating the disruption with Emergency when Congress wanted power to be concentrated in one family. “We accept this undemocratic challenge by the Congress and will take it to the people. Our people will go to every nook and corner to expose the Congress, which is trying to stop the growth of the country. “Congress party wants to save the family, while BJP wants to save the country as it is our principle,” he said addressing a meeting of the NDA Parliamentary Party. Modi asked NDA MPs and ministers to hold protests across the country, especially targeting constituencies represented by Congress and Left MPs, during a month-long campaign. Unfazed by the BJP offensive on his family in Parliament, Rahul Gandhi attacked the PM, saying he lacked guts and challenged him to bring back to India former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi who he described as the “biggest link” between the political system and black money. Keeping up the pressure on the issue of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s help to London-based Modi to obtain British travel documents, the Congress Vice President said that she had given “long statements” in the Lok Sabha yesterday but had not answered why she had helped the fugitive wanted in India by enforcement agencies. PTI