BJP's diktat to MPs: Be present all day in Parliament

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday asked its MPs to be present all day long in both Houses of Parliament for passage of crucial bills including the land bill coming up in Lok Sabha and the coal and mines bills in Rajya Sabha.

The party has already issued a whip to all its MPs for insuring their presence in both the lower and Upper Houses all through the week, up to Saturday, as crucial bills seeking to replace ordinances promulgated by the government have been lined up during the week.

Stating this at the BJP parliamentary party meeting in New Delhi, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu told the MPs about the business conducted during the last week and that proposed during this week while seeking cooperation of all to ensure passage of crucial bills.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was present at the meeting but did not speak.

Rural Development Minister Birender Singh gave details of the proposed amendments in the land bill to be brought by the government.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told the members that the estimates of corruption made out by the CAG were proving true as auction of 32 of the total 204 coal blocks had yielded around Rs 2 lakh crores alone. Similarly, he said, the auction of spectrum had so far yielded Rs 94,000 crore revenue, adding that the "Congress is trying to cover up its corruption by providing illogical theories".

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi later said the opposition will not be allowed to stop government from carrying forward its development agenda. "It is unfortunate that a dejected and defeated opposition is trying to stop the government's development agenda for the welfare of the poor, youth and other sections of society. They would not be allowed to stop the development agenda," he said.