The friendly sparring between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Opposition benches in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday turned sour after CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury insisted on not withdrawing his amendment to the President’s Address, and demanded that it be passed through a division of votes.
The Opposition was miffed at not being allowed to interject during the Prime Minister’s reply to the address and seek a clarification. A united Opposition criticised Mr. Modi for leaving the House soon after finishing his speech.
Even as Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu requested the Opposition to show courtesy to the President’s Address and not push for amendments, Mr. Yechury and his party colleague P. Rajeev were unrelenting with Mr. Yechury pointing out that they had been pushed to taking the step.
“I have no option left ... after 14 hours of discussions, major issues have not been answered. We have not even been allowed to seek clarification, the PM has not given answers,” he said addressing the Rajya Sabha Chairman, Hamid Ansari, and unwavering in his demand for vote on the amendment that read “there is no mention in the address about the failure of the government to curb high level corruption and to bring back black money.”
The Left leaders and MPs from West Bengal were also angry with references that the Prime Minister made about the pace of development in the State and how it lags behind others. Outside the House, Mr. Yechury said the Opposition was being stifled and not allowed to seek clarification to the data [related to the development indices of West Bengal] presented by the Prime Minister in his reply.
