In a rude shock to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the, 89-year-old leader and former deputy Prime Minister L K Advani has practically `blasted’ the failure of the government in conducting the proceedings of the Parliament.
The visibly agitated Advani was heard expressing his unhappiness to Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar over the continuing protests in the house at a time when some opposition members had even come to the side of treasury benches raising slogans in the well.
Though, he didn’t named Modi directly, he bluntly told him that neither the Speaker nor the Parliamentary Affairs Minister is running the house. He was heard remarking just before the house was adjourned 15 minutes ahead of the lunch recess, amid slogan-shouting by Congress and TMC members.
“I am going to tell the Speaker that she is not running the House … I am going to say it publicly. Both sides are a party to this,” he said as Kumar was seen pacifying the senior parliamentarian. He also pointed to the media gallery, apparently suggesting that his comments will be reported.
After adjournment, he was seen asking a Lok Sabha official till what time it has been adjourned. When he got the reply it will till 2 pm, he snapped, “Why not sine die? “Earlier too, Advani was seen expressing his displeasure over the situation in the House to Kumar.
It seems, he was discontent with the spectator role of the prime minister, without pushing any initiative for smooth conduct of the proceedings in the house.
Earlier, addressing the BJP Parliamentary party meeting, Narendra Modi asked his party MPs to go to the people and campaign against black money in the country, saying there is a need to encourage people for adopting digital and cashless economy.
He criticized opposition parties for their continued obstruction in Parliament over implementation of demonetisation and condemned the political parties for not allowing debate in both the Houses over the matter. He flayed the opposition for its “undemocratic” act of not allowing a debate on the demonetisation issue even as he asserted that the “major reform” exercise had the support of the people.
