With the Monsoon Session drawing to a close, Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance on Friday held a demonstration in Parliament House complex demanding Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's resignation, cancellation of coal blocks, and a fair probe and declared that it will now take this agitation to the streets.
Members of Parliament from both Houses belonging to BJP, Janata Dal United, Shiromani Akali Dal and Shiv Sena held the protest demonstration in front of Mahatma Gandhi's statue in Parliament premises on the coal allocation issue.
Holding placards that read "On Coalgate issue, Prime Minister should resign", "For a corruption free India, now from Parliament to the streets" and demanding cancellation of coal block allocations, the NDA MPs raised slogans to press for their demands.
NDA Working Chairperson L K Advani, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, her Rajya Sabha counterpart Arun Jaitley, NDA Convenor and JD-U president Sharad Yadav, SAD leader Harsimrat Kaur and Shiv Sena leader Anant Geete were prominent among those who participated in the protest.
Speaking to reporters later, Advani said, "Today is the last day of the session and so NDA MPs decided to gather here and declare that our agitation for a corruption free India will move from Parliament to the streets. Our target is to make India free of corruption."
Advani alleged that the United Progressive Alliance government has been deeply involved in corruption -- from the 2G spectrum scam to Coalgate scam -- and this has angered people across the country.
"We will take this agitation to all corners of the country," Advani said.
Swaraj maintained that till now, NDA had been disrupting Parliament on the coal allocation issue and will take this issue further through street protests.
"We have taken a pledge at the Gandhi statue here that we will take this issue to the people. We will take this issue from Parliament to the streets and from village to village," Swaraj said.
