BJP Presses For PM's Resignation, Parliament Adjourned Till Thursday

New Delhi: Both houses of parliament could not function for the second consecutive day and were adjourned till Thursday as the BJP-led opposition renewed its demand for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's resignation over the government auditor's report on coal block allocation.

The Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha had to be adjourned repeatedly with not much business transacted as the opposition took up its demand following the Comptroller and Auditor General's (CAG) report that lack of transparency in allocation of coal blocks to private players resulted in a notional loss of 1.85 lakh crore ($37 billion) to the exchequer as on March 11 last year.

Both houses were adjourned for the day within five minutes after they reassembled at 2 p.m. as the opposition continued with its demand.

The audit report does not directly indict the prime minister or his office. But during the time these mining blocks in question were allotted, the coal portfolio was held by him - between July 2004 and May 2009.

The Question Hour could not be taken up in either of the houses.  The Lok Sabha was adjourned till 12 noon soon after it met at 11 a.m., and the Rajya Sabha adjourned in quick succession twice till noon.

When the two houses met again at noon, the morning scenes were repeated with BJP members trooping towards the presiding officers' chairs, raising slogans demanding the prime minister's resignation.

With the BJP determined not to let the houses function until the prime minister resigned, the chairs in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha were forced to adjourn the house till 2 p.m.

When the house reassembled at 2 p.m., Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker Kariya Munda, who was in chair, allowed Janata Dal-United member Rajeev Ranjan Singh Lallan to speak on the issue of floods but had to adjourn the house till Thursday as the BJP members trooped into the well pressing for the prime minister's resignation.