Opposition not letting Parliament function: Pranab

Accusing the Opposition of not allowing the government to put forth its views in Parliament on Anna Hazare's detention, two senior ministers on Tuesday said such an attitude was "not fair" in a parliamentary system.

Talking to reporters separately, Leader of the Lok Sabha and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said the Opposition created a pandemonium in Parliament forcing its adjournment.

"Nowadays, unfortunately, we notice that some of the Opposition leaders are making their observations on a particular discussion and thereafter, when the questions are replied by the government, they are creating pandemonium and forcing an adjournment of the House. This is not fair in parliamentary practice," Mukherjee said.

His views were echoed by Bansal, who said it was an "old habit" of the Opposition.

"They are making the system irrelevant," he said.

Mukherjee said Bansal tried his best to impress upon the leaders of the Opposition parties to let Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushma Swaraj make her observation in the Question Hour and thereafter the home minister be allowed to make his observation.

"The home minister wanted to make the statement, we wanted to tell this country that it is the legitimate right of every individual or group to hold a protest, but at the same time there are certain rules, certain laws. If the police think that particular action may lead to a law and order problem, the police can impose certain conditions," he explained.

Mukherjee conceded that in a free country like India, everybody had the right protest and there was a "method" to be adopted.

He said once the police had imposed restrictions, it was for the parties concerned to decide in consultation with the police and administration to take further action.

In reply to a question, Bansal said Congress members were not disrupting proceedings but were merely displaying copies of questions to be asked as they wanted the Question Hour to take place.

Congress Member of Parliament Rashid Alvi accused Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj of "deciding" every morning whether or not to allow the House to run that day.

"This is very painful and unfortunate. The House should run; there should be a debate inside the House. But the BJP's attitude is unconstitutional. They are not allowing either Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha to function," Alvi said.

He also termed BJP member Rudra Narayan Pani's rushing to the Well in Rajya Sabha as "condemnable" and said the opposition was "not willing to apologise for it. This is condemnable".