After rift, Congress MPs heckle Mulayam Singh Yadav

NEW DELHI: The tense dynamic between Congress and the non-NDA opposition was on display on Tuesday in Lok Sabha when Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav's intervention on the caste census was greeted with loud sloganeering led by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi while protesting Congress MPs stood before RJD's Jai Prakash Yadav when he raised the same issue.

The decision of SP and RJD - the latter a likely Congress ally in the Bihar polls - to "participate" in Lok Sabha proceedings when Congress MPs were protesting in the well seemed to be the trigger for the heckling.

Congress MPs moved towards the RJD MP on a signal from the party benches shouting "shame, shame", a tactic the party has still recently reserved for ministers and MPs from the ruling coalition. But now, "secular" parties that break rank also seem to be in line for heckling from irate Congress MPs.

During question hour, BJD MP Pinaki Mishra launched a severe attack on the record of the environment ministry under the previous UPA regime, calling it "very corrupt", and went on to shower praise on environment minister Prakash Javadekar who highlighted how Rs 35,000 crore meant for afforestation was lying unused due to inaction.

Soon after, demanding declassification of Netaji files, BJD leader Bhartruhari Mahtab said the current scenes in the House smacked of fascism. "We are witnessing manifestation of fascism in this session. Your patience is being tested. But you should not give up and must run the House," he said, in a reference to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.

Congress's determination to protest and force an adjournment was evident with both Sonia and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi energetically backing the disruptions in Lok Sabha and ruling out a discussion on controversial ex-IPL chief Lalit Modi under any rule except an adjournment motion.

SP and RJD MPs did protest, demanding release of caste-related data in the socio-economic census, but the issue was at variance with Congress's demand that foreign minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh CMs Vasundhara Raje and Shivraj Singh Chouhan resign over the 'Lalitgate' and Vyapam scandals.

Congress has been at pains to convey that it is not isolated in the House and it managed to get a Jharkhand Mukti Morcha MP to join the protests for a while though parties like Trinamool continued to maintain strategic neutrality, not joining the blockade but also keeping a careful distance from the NDA.

The discord between SP and Congress has been all too evident in Lok Sabha whenever Mulayam has attended proceedings, with the Yadav chieftain barely exchanging a word with Sonia who sits rights next to him.

Congress leaders continued to sound out non-NDA parties over support for an adjournment motion rather than a discussion under Rule 193 proposed by the government. The response was tepid, with many parties submitting notices under the rule as well as seeking adjournment motions on a variety of subjects.