NDA sets House on fire

NEW DELHI: On Friday, the BJP-led NDA took not just Prime Minister Manmohan Singh head-on but, in an unprecedented move, did the same with Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee. It announced it would boycott all business advisory committees, while holding out the threat of boycotting all other parliamentary committees as well. The vehicle: the Shibu Soren case.
On record, the NDA leaders targeted the PM, saying his "refusal" to make a statement in Parliament on the Soren issue had led to the stalemate.But off the record, and through their conduct in Parliament over the last few days, the NDA demonstrated its scant respect for Chatterjee, with BJP deputy leader V K Malhotra even preventing the Speaker on Friday from completing a statement he was making, while his colleagues referred to the latter''s "tanashahi" and "Stalinist" qualities in the house. The unprecedented nature of the attack against the Speaker compelled the Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee to voice his protest.
Mukherjee pointed out that while the Speaker was making his observations on key national issues — including the Indian hostages in Iraq, the grave flood and drought situation, internal security, — "the Opposition benches, specially the BJP, started shouting and obstructing your observations. Some went to the extent of saying instead of sermonising, he should allow the Leader of the Opposition to speak first... There are no words to condemn this type of behaviour as the Speaker is the custodian of rights, privileges and dignity of the House."
Leader of the Opposition L K Advani said, "It was perfectly justified on our part to have demanded a statement from the PM on absconding minister. If only he had made a statement, this situation would not have arisen."