BJP begins ‘boycott’,rest step back

Ahead of a stormy beginning to Parliament’s winter session during which the NDA carried out its threat to “boycott” P Chidambaram,the prime minister defended the home minister. “There is virtually no case for a boycott… I sincerely hope that political parties will desist from any such temptation,” Manmohan Singh said.

BJP members sprang to their feet in the Lok Sabha as soon as Chidamabram got up to answer a question. They created a din to drown out the minister,as resolved last evening by the NDA to mount pressure on the PM to drop him from the cabinet over the 2G scam.

The Left disagreed. “We don’t target individuals or favour a boycott of anyone,” CPM’s Sitaram Yechury said. However,“everybody involved in the 2G scam,even if it goes up to the level of the prime minister,should be investigated and action should follow.”

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CPI’s Gurudas Dasgupta said his party was “not for a boycott of any minister”. But,“we know who P Chidambaram is. We will expose him inside and outside Parliament.”

RJD’s Lalu Prasad protested: “This is too much. We will not accept that the home minister will not be allowed to speak in the name of a boycott.”