Monsoon session of Parliament: It’s raining scam vs scam, your CM vs our CM

NEW DELHI: The Rajya Sabha failed to conduct any business for the second consecutive day as the Opposition insisted that BJP leaders resign first and only then a discussion will take place. BSP chief Mayawati demanded action against Swaraj, and the two chief ministers. She described the Vyapam as a “killer scam”. Taking digs at PM Modi, she said, “The head of this government has been exposed.” Sharad Yadav (JD-U) cited precedents and said when BJP and his party were allies, they had got the resignations of Madhavsinh Solanki, Ashwini Kumar, PK Bansal and others. Recalling that even senior BJP leader LK Advani had quit in the hawala case, Yadav said the same yardstick of quitting first and awaiting clearing of one’s name after a probe should be applied to the Modi government as well.

Meanwhile, the NDA has firmed up plans of raking up alleged scams in Congress-ruled Kerala, Karnataka, Assam and Himachal Pradesh. BJP sources said the party has prepared a list of MPs from both the Houses who will give notices for suspension of business and discussion on issues like solar and bar bribery scam in Kerala, water projects in Goa (during Congress rule) and Assam, flood relief scam in Uttarakhand, farmer suicides in Karnataka, and the steel scam allegedly involving Himachal CM Virbhadra Singh.

“If the opposition wants Raje and Chouhan to resign, then the Congress CMs in Uttarakhand, Kerala, Karnataka and Assam should quit first,” a Cabinet minister said. Kirit Sommaiya, Pratap Simha, Shoba Karandlaje, Poonam Mahajan, Bijaya Chakravarthy, Narendra Sawarakar, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Prahlad Joshi, Suresh Angadi, Gajendra Shekhawat are some of the BJP MPs who have given notices for adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha to discuss these scams. BJP Rajya Sabha MPs who have given similar notices under Rule 267 include VP Singh Bhadnore, Dilipbhai Pandya, Anil Dave, Bhupendra Yadav, Tarun Vijay, Vijay Goyal, Chandan Mitra, Avinash Rai Khanna.