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Indian Parliament witnesses chaos over wrongdoing allegations against FM

Xinhua, July 22, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Indian Parliament on Wednesday witnessed uproar for the second day in a row, with opposition parties reiterating their demand for resignations of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and two chief ministers over allegations of corruption and wrongdoing.

Both the Upper House (Rajya Sabha) and the Lower House (Lok Sabha) had to be adjourned repeatedly after opposition parties, led by Congress party, created chaos, despite the Indian government saying that it was ready for a debate on allegations surrounding Swaraj.

The external affairs minister and the chief minister of the western state of Rajasthan Vasundhara Raje are accused of helping the country's former cricket boss Lalit Modi, who is currently a fugitive in the UK and accused of financial corruption.

The Congress said it would not let the Parliament function till Swaraj resigns, along with Raje and Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the chief minister of the central state of Madhya Pradesh, whose government is embroiled by a massive fraud in entrance exams for college and government jobs.

In Lok Sabha, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi defended her party's refusal to allow the Parliament to function saying "What were you (the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party) doing for so many years?"

In the Rajya Sabha, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley defended the external affairs minister. "What law has Sushma Swaraj broken?" he asked, in view of the ruling party's stand that Swaraj's assistance to Lalit Modi was on "humanitarian grounds" as he needed to accompany his wife for medical treatment.

The BJP has turned down the Congress demands for the resignations of Swaraj and the two chief ministers in the wake of the country's main opposition party's offer to help the government pass some key bills in exchange for the sacking of the three ministers.

The monsoon session of the Indian Parliament began Monday. Endi