Prominent industrialists urge parliament to end stalemate
15,000 people became the part of a signature campaign asking the lawmakers to end the parliamentary log jam. India's top industrialists such as Rahul Bajaj, Kris Gopalakrishnan, Pawan Munjal, Adi Godrej, Kiran Majumdar-Shaw, Sanjaya Reddy, and Banmali Agrawala became a part of this initiative. The initiative has also roped in prominent citizens such as Naresh Trehan, Ashok Jhunjhunwala and Anu Aga.
Why the logjam?
The logjam started on 21 July with the beginning of the monsoon session and Congress cornering the government over the Lalit Modi controversy and Vyapam scam. BJP was counting on a divided opposition, which did not happen. The logjam came at a time when Modi was keen to pass crucial legislations such as GST bill. The BJP felt that the opposition was being 'obstructionist'.
Lack of majority in Rajya Sabha bites BJP
The government's inability to end the stalemate is because of the lack of a majority in the Rajya Sabha. It has 62 MPs of 245, less than the halfway mark of 123.
All-party meet a disappointment
An all-party meeting held to break the logjam in Parliament proved unsuccessful. The government hinted at the possibility of another meeting. The meeting was convened by Speaker Sumitra Mahajan in the wake of the Congress protests. The Congress sought the resignation of CM Vasundhra Raje, Cabinet Minister Sushma Swaraj and CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
BJP had made UPA ministers resign too
When it was in the opposition, BJP did not let Parliament function demanding the resignation of tainted UPA ministers; now it is at the receiving end.
Mulayam Yadav advocates for discussion to end logjam
2 weeks into the parliament logjam, Mulayam Singh Yadav asked the Lok Sabha Speaker to "break the logjam… call us all for talks and all this will stop". He asked for a discussion to sort the issue. As the Samajwadi Party supremo spoke, he was stopped by Sonia Gandhi while Mallikarjun Kharge said that these were only Mulayam's opinion and not of Congress.
PM accuses Congress of misusing parliament
PM Narendra Modi blamed the Congress of wrongly using Parliament and stalling India's economic growth. Modi accused the opposition party of working towards damaging the country's "resources and hurt its dreams". He also exalted Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav's efforts for trying to end the logjam in the Parliament. His views were reiterated by union minister Arun Jaitley and Rajiv Pratap Rudy.
Congress blames Modi for parliament moratorium
The Congress accused Modi's "insincerity" and "obduracy" for the stalling in Parliament. Congress demanded an apology from BJP for the comment that Congress was "damaging" India's growth. They blamed the BJP for not having undertaken any dialogue to end the impasse. Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma said that Finance Minister Jaitley's blame on Congress was 'unfair' as it was BJP that was responsible.
