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Wednesday, Apr 20, 2005

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Defence deals: affidavit issue rocks Parliament

New Delhi Bureau

Fernandes "defamed," Pranab should quit: Opposition

NEW DELHI: Uproarious scenes caused by the Opposition and the Government over the filing of a second affidavit in the Kargil defence purchase cases led to the adjournment of Parliament on Tuesday, the opening day of the second part of the budget session.

After a brief adjournment failed to restore calm, the Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day by the Speaker, Somnath Chatterjee, when repeated pleas for order had little effect on the Opposition members who trooped to the well of the House raising slogans. They demanded the resignation of the Defence Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, and the withdrawal of the second affidavit.

The Opposition charged that the second affidavit was "politically motivated" after the first gave the former Defence Minister, George Fernandes, a "clean chit."

Similar scenes were witnessed in the Rajya Sabha that too adjourned for the day. In both Houses, the issue was raised soon after obituary references and before the start of question hour.

The Leader of the Lok Sabha, Mr. Mukherjee, told the House that the Government was willing to discuss the issue at any time and said the Opposition's insinuations were not correct and insisted that the filing of a second affidavit was a normal legal practice.

Before adjourning the Lok Sabha, the Speaker, Somnath Chatterjee gave a "public notice" that from tomorrow "come what may" he would not adjourn the House under such circumstances.

Raising the issue in the Lok Sabha, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, BJP leader, demanded that the Central Vigilance Commission report on the subject and the Phukan Commission report that probed the Tehelka episode be tabled. He said there was a contradiction between the two affidavits but what evoked protests from the ruling coalition benches was his charge that the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, campaigned against Mr. Fernandes during the elections on coffin purchases.

Demanding Mr. Mukherjee's resignation for "defaming" Mr. Fernandes, Prabhunath Singh, JD (U) sought to know the "pressure" under which the second affidavit was filed after the first document gave a clean chit to Mr. Fernandes.

(Mr. Chatterjee told reporters separately that he had asked the Government for its views on the tabling of the Phukan Commission report as demanded by the Opposition.)

In the Rajya Sabha, several attempts by the BJP leader, Yashwant Sinha, to raise the issue before question hour were foiled by Congress members. Nothing could be heard in the din but Mr. Sinha was trying to say that he was raising the issue of two completely different affidavits filed by the Government in the Supreme Court. "In the affidavit filed on 10th March... '' was all that was audible.

The Chairman, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, tried to bring the House to order in vain. He said he had allowed Mr. Sinha to raise the issue so that he could decide whether to postpone the question hour. "I know question hour is not postponed. I know it has been postponed in the past and I also know that matters have been raised before the question hour,'' he said. However chaos prevailed, forcing him to adjourn the House till noon.

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