BJP gets little place to hide in both Houses of Parliament

Infuriated with Naik’s absence, they paid little attention to what Gangwar and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan had to say.

The Opposition, led by the Congress which kept chanting ‘‘BJP is PPP, petrol pump party’’ and ‘‘a party of looters,’’ demanded that the Government table the complete list of allotments on the floor of the House.

Waving copies of The Indian Express and clashing repeatedly with the Treasury benches, Opposition members called for a CBI probe and said all allotments should be kept in abeyance until investigations are over.

‘‘Until the outcome of the inquiry is known, Naik should not hold office. If MPs are involved, doesn’t matter which party they belong to, the law of the land should apply,’’ said Priyaranjan Dasmunshi of the Congress.

He was backed by veteran CPI(M) leaders Somnath Chatterjee and Rupchand Pal and Samajwadi’s Kunwar Akhilesh Singh. RJD’s Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, who kept shouting ‘‘throw out this corrupt government,’’ claimed each petrol pump had been ‘‘sold for Rs 25 lakh.’’

Speaker Manohar Joshi, who managed to persuade Dasmunshi and other Opposition members to let question hour proceed after 30 minutes of disruption, tried hard to keep order during zero hour. Despite constant heckling from the treasury benches, the Opposition kept up its attack.

‘‘Our Prime Minister has time and again spoken on good governance and total transparency. But today’s revelation in The Indian Express calls for an explanation from this government. The kin of Kargil martyrs have been ignored to accommodate the relatives of the BJP. This government has no shame,’’ Dasmunshi said.

In the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State O Rajagopal said the government was willing to furnish allotment lists of not just this government but those of the previous governments as well. But the Opposition was in no mood to listen. Suresh Pachauri of the Congress demanded an explanation from Naik.

While Laloo Prasad Yadav waved a copy of The Indian Express, Opposition members chanted ‘‘loot liya, loot liya (they have robbed, they have robbed).’’

BJP’s S S Ahluwalia rushed to the well of the House to tell the chair to calm the Opposition. This prompted Raju Parmar of the Congress to move into the well too. It was then that chairperson Najma Heptulla decided to call it a day.