Congress: Government avoiding CAG debate

No sooner were the listed papers laid in the Rajya Sabha that Madhusudan Mistry (Congress) sought to raise the issue of the CAG criticising the handling of the Bay of Bengal KG Basin gas field project by the Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation, a state government entity. He alleged irregularities of over Rs 30,000 crores were found. Deputy Congress leader in the Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma said the government had been running away from a discussion on the issue.

Deputy chairman P.J. Kurien said if a notice was given, the Chairman would examine it and called Sukhendu Shekhar Roy to speak on his notice. The Congress members did not relent and moved into the Well, shouting slogans. Minister of state for parliamentary affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said the PAC of state Assemblies also go into CAG reports and Parliament does not discuss them. “This is a diversionary tactic. They are trying to divert attention from the AgustaWestland (helicopter) deal,” he said.

As the Congress members refused to relent, Mr Kurien was on his feet asking agitated members to listen to him. “Coming to the Well, shouting slogans is not justifiable, not acceptable. What are you going to achieve,” he asked, adding that the Congress members were encroaching upon the rights of 12 members.

As the din continued, Mr Kurien adjourned the House till 11.30 am. When the House met again, similar scenes of slogan-shouting Congress members trooping into the Well were seen, forcing Mr Kurien to adjourn the House till noon.

Before the House was adjourned, Mr Naqvi said it will discuss the AgustaWestland deal on Wednesday and asked Congress members to do their homework properly.

As the Rajya Sabha met for the Question Hour at noon, the Congress members again rushed into the Well and started raising similar slogans. Chairman Hamid Ansari asked the protesting members not to raise slogans. As the pleas went unheeded, Mr Ansari adjourned the House till 12.32 pm.

Parliamentary affairs minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said the matter raised by the Congress members pertains to the state and should be raised in the Assembly. Leader of Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley rejected the Congress demand for a discussion, saying the CAG report was considered by the Public Accounts Committee of the Gujarat Assembly and hence it would be a wrong precedent to raise the subject in Parliament.

He accused the Congress of raising the issue “as a diversionary tactic” to counter the TMC notice to have a discussion on the AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter issue.

Countering this, Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said: “This allegation is not true. We had given notice for this 4-5 days ago.” Mr Sharma said his party wanted a discussion on the AgustaWestland issue too and was “not running away”.