Accusing Congress of blocking passage of important bills in Parliament, the ruling BJP-led NDA on Wednesday said its MPs will forgo their salary and allowances for the ongoing 22-day-long Budget session that has been a virtual washout.
The NDA singled out Congress as its target though TDP and AIADMK created ruckus inside Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha for days demanding special category status for Andhra Pradesh and constitution of Cauvery Management Board respectively.
“It has been decided that NDA MPs will be giving up their salaries and other allowances for 22 days that Parliament was not allowed to function by 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,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananthkumar said.
‘Engineered disruptions’
Till Wednesday, the second leg of the Budget session competed 20 days’ sitting but hardly transacted any business due to protests by TDP and AIADMK. Congress, Trinamool Congress and other Opposition parties had protested against bank scams and other issues. The Budget session is scheduled to adjourn sine die on Friday.
After tabling a notice for no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha, TDP along with Opposition parties had urged Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to allow the motion. However, the chair declined citing protests by AIADMK over Cauvery.
The Congress and rest of the Opposition were quick to allege “match-fixing” by BJP and AIADMK to block the no-trust motion. Trinamool Congress dubbed it as “engineered disruptions”. (DH)
