Ruckus in Houses, build-up outside

The impasse in Parliament over the no-confidence motion against the PM NarendraModiled government continued on Monday, but political developments were on outside.

The two Houses could not transact any business because of disruptions. The Lok Sabha could not take up the no-confidence motion. The government, with its majority in the House was willing to face the motion, and blamed the Opposition for disruptions.

Opposition parties blamed the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam for playing into the hands of the government by disrupting proceedings.

There was also disagreement over whether normalcy was a prerequisite for a noconfidence motion. Former Lok Sabha secretary general PDT A chary said order wasn’t necessary, and the motion could be taken up if 50 members stand up to support it.

In Kolkata, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee hosted Telangana counterpart K Chandrashekhar Rao to take forward their efforts at giving shape to a non- Congress and nonBharatiya Janata Party federal front for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Banerjee heads the Trinamool Congress and Rao is chief of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti. After the two-hour meeting, Rao said they would reach out to likeminded parties. In Delhi, former BJP ally Raju Shetti met Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and joined the Congress-led UPA.