NDA covers itself in glory, won’t take salary for 23 days of washout

The cat is out of the bag. There will be no business in Parliament on the last two days of the Budget Session. It is official since the word has emanated from no less than Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar.

As if to cover itself in glory for the House wash-out, the NDA MPs would be giving up their salaries and other allowances for the 23 days for which Parliament was not allowed to function, allegedly by the Congress Party.

"This money is given to serve the people and if we are not able to do so, then we have no right to accept the people's money," Kumar declared with some pomposity. Ironically, the move comes just months after the government made sure that lawmakers do not miss out their share of the pay hike by making this provision part of the Finance Bill presented as part of the Union Budget.The Lok Sabha remained stuck for the 20th day in a row on Wednesday due to ruckus; more important, it drowned the no-confidence move against the Modi government for the 12th day, with no hope of it materialising even before the budget session ends on Friday.

The united Opposition in the Rajya Sabha got a false hope when the AIADMK gave an assurance that it will suspend the daily disruption of the proceedings and allow some business to be transacted. However, it soon dawned on the Opposition that the AIADMK was only playing the government's game to get the House pass the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill pending since 2013.

Though it was mostly the AIADMK or the Andhra parties that created the daily ruckus, Kumar tried to lay the entire blame at the doorstep of the Congress. “The Congress is engaging in anti-democratic politics by stopping important bills from being passed, which is leading to criminal wastage of taxpayer’s money,” the statement said.

Pandemonium prevailed in both Houses of Parliament on Wednesday as well. While the Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day within six minutes after it assembled in the morning, the Lok Sabha was adjourned due to the protests for the first time till noon within four minutes after it met and then for the day after the listed papers were laid.

Before adjourning the Lok Sabha for the day, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said she was unable to take up the notices for no-confidence motion against the government, served by several opposition parties, as there was no order in the House. By that profound statement hangs a tale.

A senior Congress leader charged that the AIADMK had prevented the tabling of the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha as a part of "match-fixing" with the government and it would have continued with the ruckus on Thursday and Friday as well – the scheduled last day of the current session.