New Delhi, July 24: Continuing their boycott of Defence Minister George Fernandes over the Tehelka issue, the Congress, Left and other Opposition parties today walked out of the Lok Sabha as soon as he rose to reply to a query during Question Hour. The Opposition has been demanding the resignation of the Defence Minister following the Tehelka scandal and has consistently argued that Fernandes should not have the right to address Parliament till investigations are complete.

And in a fierce rebuttal, the BJP has termed the boycott undemocratic. "The walkout by Congress during question hour today was shameful," alleged BJP spokesman V K Malhotra.

Malhotra also blamed the Congress for doublespeak saying that the party only spoke of national security but staged a walkout when the Defence Minister tried to address the Lok Sabha.
"There have been enough discussions on Tehelka issue in Parliament. Moreover, it was the Prime Minister's prerogative to re-induct Fernandes into the cabinet," Malhotra said.

The Opposition has also decided to move a privilege motion against Law Minister Arun Jaitley.

The Opposition is accusing him of misleading the House about the CBI's role in dropping conspiracy charges against Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani and other top leaders in the Ayodhya case.

But it's still unclear if Speaker Manohar Joshi will admit the motion, which enables the Opposition to have a discussion on the statements made by Jaitley.
Yesterday's session was also dominated by the row over the Opposition's allegations that the government forced the CBI to be soft, but the Speaker had refused to allow an adjournment motion on the issue.


Bureau Report