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No business was conducted on Day One of the Budget Session of Parliament today as determined BJP-led NDA members forced adjournment of both ...

No business was conducted on Day One of the Budget Session of Parliament today as determined BJP-led NDA members forced adjournment of both the Houses over the issue of tainted Ministers.

In the Lok Sabha, the agitated members were on their feet as soon as Telugu Desam member K. Yerran Naidu finished taking his oath. BJP chief whip Vijay Kumar Malhotra first raised the issue of the presence of tainted ministers in the Manmohan Singh Government, and taking a cue from him, other members entered the Well of the House, shouting slogans 8212; 8216;8216;daagi mantri hatao, desh bachao remove tainted ministers and save the country.8217;8217;

Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee8217;s pleas for order seemed to fall on deaf ears. He kept requesting the members to take their seats.

When it became clear that the members were in no mood to listen, he adjourned the House till noon and called for an all-party meeting in the meantime, where he tried to convince the NDA members to give up their 8216;8216;obstructionist strategy8217;8217;. He failed to resolve the issue in the meeting as the members continued in the same vein when the House resumed for the Question Hour. Finally, the House was adjourned for the day.

Later, those who attended the Speaker8217;s meeting said the Opposition was in no mood to give in. They admitted that the Speaker could not get the NDA to commit they will cooperate in the Railway Budget tomorrow. 8216;8216;In all probability, they will obstruct the Budget, but will allow discussion on the General Budget,8217;8217; a UPA leader said.

BJP8217;s representative in the meeting, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, kept everyone guessing about their strategy. 8216;8216;We have a meeting tomorrow morning. We will decide our strategy there,8217;8217; he said, adding that they had the option of boycotting or staging a walk-out during the Railway Budget presentation by 8216;8216;tainted8217;8217; Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav.

In Rajya Sabha too, the NDA members allowed 51 of their colleagues to be sworn in before raising the tainted minister8217;s issue. Soon after the new members 8212; including Home Minister Shivraj Patil, BJP chief Venkaiah Naidu, industrialist Anil Ambani, BSP chief Mayawati and film star Jaya Bachchan, Leader of Opposition Jaswant Singh, Najma Heptulla, BJP leaders M.M. Joshi, and Arun Shourie, and Congress leaders Ambika Soni and Mohsina Kidwai took oath 8212; Opposition members led by BJP8217;s S.S. Ahluwalia started raising slogans. Not wasting any time, Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat immediately adjourned the House for the day.

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Both the Houses were paralysed on the issue of tainted ministers even during the opening session of the new Lok Sabha. UPA members hoped the Opposition would allow business to be conducted during the two-month session as a number of Bills were planned to be introduced.