DMK minister Alagiri goes 'missing'

A day after the opposition raised questions over "perpetual" absence of Union Minister M K Alagiri from Parliament, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar said on Friday that even she had not received any communication about his whereabouts.

"We have received no communication from him. Whenever he (Alagiri) comes, I will ask him whatever is his problem I will try to resolve... I am here to resolve," the speaker told the media.

She indicated her unhappiness over the behaviour of the Union chemical and fertiliser minister saying that Parliament runs on courtesy and decorum.

"Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other ministers are very particular about it (courtesy and decorum). Whenever they go, they always inform my office."

The opposition created ruckus in the Lok Sabha during Question Hour on Thursday and did not allow Alagiri's junior Srikant Jena to reply to a question.

Sushma Swaraj had led the attack saying, "We haven't seen Alagiri for a year. He is perpetually absent from the Parliament. And as far our knowledge he also does not attend the Cabinet meetings.

"We want to know where is Alagiri," Swaraj had said.

It is believed that the DMK minister is shying away from Parliament as he is not comfortable speaking in English or Hindi and wants to speak in Tamil.

The matter came up in the Rajya Sabha also as the opposition stalled the Question Hour for some time over Alagiri's absence.

One of the members in Rajya Sabha went to the extent of saying that it has been a year since the United Progressive Alliance came back to power but Alagiri has never come to the House.

Leader of the opposition Arun Jaitley pointed out that "week after week the opposition has been raising this issue".

"All ministers are accountable to Parliament. However, in this case, are we are accepting the position that one minister is not accountable to Parliament. If this is the case, then we can proceed with Question Hour," the BJP leader said.

To this, Chairman of Rajya Sabha Hamid Ansari said, "This is a wider issue which needs to be discussed, but not during Question Hour."