Arrogance, obduracy of government to blame for stalling of Parliament: Congress

NEW DELHI: Refusing to relent in its attack over alleged communal remarks by some BJP MPs, Congress today charged that the Prime Minister was "complicit" in the matter as it demanded that he should clarify in Parliament as to why such comments were being made despite a statement from him.

Rejecting BJP's charge that the opposition was stalling Parliament, Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma said, "If the (Upper) House is not working, it is due to the arrogance and obduracy of the government".

He alleged that BJP was "deliberately resorting to cheap diversionary tactics" to shift attention away from its "failure to deliver on promises".

"It is not happening by default... The Prime Minister is complicit. His party is complicit... Had these incidents not happened after his first assurance, we would not have protested in the House.

"Since these things happened even after that and the Prime Minister's assurance was broken, now only he can tell what action he will take against them," Sharma said while calling for "demonstrable disciplinary action" against the saffron party MPs making such remarks.

He alleged that BJP MPs, including Yogi Adityanath and Sakshi Maharaj, have made statements which were "contrary to the assurance" given by the Prime Minister in Rajya Sabha in the wake of the row over objectionable comments made by Union minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti.

Meanwhile, rejecting BJP's charge that Congress member Hanumantha Rao made some "unparliamentary" remark in the House and that Congress President Sonia Gandhi should answer for that, Sharma said, "He (Rao) did not say any such thing. I am surprised at what they (BJP) are saying. This is absurd."

"Even if it is accepted that Rao said something, then it is for the Chair to examine it. We never said that since a BJP member made a certain remark in the House, BJP President Amit Shah should come and give a statement."

Sharma remained non-committal when asked whether the opposition parties, including Congress, would stop disrupting the House if the Prime Minister comes there on Friday.