Advani slams Munde for 'mock parliament' antics

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani was not amused with some of the party MPs joining Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh to hold a mock Parliament session and reprimanded his colleague Gopinath Munde for participating in it.

Advani was not happy with Munde, Kirti Azad, Maneka Gandhi, her son Varun and others BJP MPs from Lok Sabha joining Prasad and Mulayam - with whom the party does not see eye to eye on most issues - to hold the mock Parliament on Friday.

While holding such a mock session shows disrespect to Parliament, it also does not behove the main opposition to indulge in such an exercise, BJP sources said. Advani reprimanded Munde, who is Deputy Leader of BJP in Lok Sabha, for agreeing with Prasad and participating in a mock session. Munde had acted as the Speaker while Azad was Leader of Opposition.

Munde reportedly tried to tell Advani that his party colleagues were not siding with Prasad and Yadav on the salary hike issue during this session and had only raised objections to the manner in which the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill was passed in the din by a voice vote and without a discussion.

However, Advani was not convinced with this argument and felt no BJP MP should have participated in any such session and the forum for protesting or highlighting any issue is the real Parliament. Unconfirmed reports said some of these MPs even wanted to hold another session of the mock Parliament from 10 am to 11 am on Saturday, before the Lok Sabha met for the day, but gave up the idea after BJP MPs backed out after Advani's reprimand.

 As Speaker of the mock session, Munde had adjourned the House till 10 am on Saturday. Some BJP leaders said had Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj been present on Friday, she would not have allowed her party MPs to attend the "pretend Parliament". She was away in Bellary. Sources said other BJP leaders, including Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, also did not approve of this behaviour from some party MPs.

NDA Convenor and JD(U) President Sharad Yadav and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar have also openly condemned the mock Parliament.