Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar’s end-of-the-session tea party on Thursday was boycotted by Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj and senior BJP leader L. K. Advani in protest against disruptions during his efforts to raise the cash-for-vote scam issue in the House.
The immediate provocation was the uproar caused by the Congress members during Mr. Advani’s speech in the Lok Sabha in which he hailed the two former BJP MPs — Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahavir Bhagore — for acting as “whistleblowers” in the cash-for-vote scam and insisting that if they are guilty then he too should be sent behind bars.
Mr. Advani was peeved at the disruption and registered his protest with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Bansal after Speaker Meira Kumar adjourned the House sine die.
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When Mr. Bansal saw Mr. Advani and Ms. Swaraj walking away instead of moving towards the Speaker’s office for the customary tea party, he walked upto them. An angry Advani told Mr. Bansal that Congress members should not have behaved in the manner they did when he was speaking on the cash-for-vote scam.
Mr. Bansal’s attempts to pacify him did not bear fruit and he walked away with Ms. Swaraj. The Leader of the Opposition did send Deputy Leader of the BJP in Lok Sabha Gopinath Munde, Chief Whip Ramesh Bais and senior MP Shahnawaz Hussain to attend the tea party.
Ms. Swaraj and the Speaker have not been on the best of terms in this session of Parliament. This was seen during several debates in the House as well as the issue of extension given to Lok Sabha Secretary General T K Vishwanathan which was opposed by Ms. Swaraj.
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