Parliament Logjam to continue until Sushma Swaraj, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Vasundhara Raje quit: Congres

NEW DELHI: Congress today ruled out talks with the government for breaking the logjam in Parliament, making it clear that it will continue till its demand for resignations of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and BJP chief ministers of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan is met.

"The solution to the deadlock in Parliament cannot be found in a meeting, but in action against a Union Minister and two Chief Ministers", Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said.

He was asked as to why he did not attend an all-party meeting convened by the Leader of the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley today.

Azad said he has regard for Jaitley and he would attend any meeting convened by him the day the deadlock is resolved by taking action against Swaraj, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and her Madhya Pradesh counterpart Shivraj Singh Chauhan.

Dismissing suggestions about lack of unity among the opposition parties on the issue, Azad insisted as far as Rajya Sabha is concerned, leaders of the SP, CPI, CPI-M, BSP and JD-U have all demanded resignations of those involved in the Lalit Modi issue and Vyapam scam.

Apparently referring to the statement of senior BJP leader Shanta Kumar, he said there was support for the opposition's demand also from "within" BJP.

With BJP raking up the Robert Vadra issue in Parliament, he accused the government of pursuing "politics of revenge" against the opposition.

Azad charged the BJP with raising the issue of alleged corruption by governments in Congress-ruled states like Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand in a tit-for-tat action against his party and seeking to divert the attention of the people from the Lalit Modi issue and Vyapam scam.

Azad's remarks came after BJP hit back at Congress in the Lok Sabha by raking up certain comments of Vadra, son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and demanded action against him for "demeaning" Members of Parliament.