After a month-long deadlock on the tehelka expose of corruption in defence deals, both Houses of Parliament today resumed normal functioning to clear the pending financial business. The two Houses, which had repeatedly witnessed uproarious scenes with opposition members storming the well, were calm today as the business began with the question hour.
Normalcy returned to Parliament following a meeting of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Sonia Gandhi Monday night with speaker G M C Balayogi in which Vajpayee said government had an open mind of the issue of setting up of a JPC on tehelka expose. Zero hour was suspended in Lok Sabha to enable discussion and passage of the demands for grants of the rural development ministry.
The House would also take up demands for grant of the department of disinvestment before the guillotine is applied in the evening for the demands for grants of the remaining ministries and departments. The Rajya Sabha will take up the Appropriation (Railways) bill for consideration and return, the foreign trade (development and regulation) amendment bill and a number of pending bills. Bureau Report