Congress, BJP the same when it comes to disrupting Parliament

The functioning of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha was disrupted once again on Wednesday as Congress continued to stall the proceedings.

Congress wants Prime Minister Narendra Modi to apologise for allegedly calling former Prime Minister and Congress leader Manmohan Singh a fifth columnist.On December 10, at a Gujarat campaign rally Modi had alleged that senior Congress leaders, including Singh and Mani Shankar Aiyar (now suspended from the party), had met Pakistani diplomats and officials to influence the Gujarat Assembly elections.

On Wednesday Congress disrupted Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. Both the Houses were adjourned till 2 pm.

Today is the fourth day of the winter session of Parliament. Proceedings in both Houses have been marked by frequent adjournments with both the main political parties refusing to budge from their stand.RUSHING TO THE WELL

While the first day-December 15-saw the Lok Sabha adjourned after obituary mentions, the Rajya Sabha had to be adjourned after Opposition MPs rushed to the well amid slogan shouting.

Besides the demand for an apology from the PM, a section of the members were also protesting against the disqualification of Sharad Yadav and Ali Anwar.On Tuesday there were possibilities of a thaw in the frosty relations between the two camps.

"All things can be internally discussed and seen that the House functions properly and dignity of Parliament should be maintained," M Venkaiah Naidu, Vice-President and Chairman of the Rajya Sabha had suggested.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who is also the Leader of the House, offered to talk to his counterpart Congress' Ghulam Nabi Azad.

Though some business has been carried out and a few Bills have been passed during the ongoing Winter Session, proceedings have been frequently disrupted by the Opposition led by the Congress.WHAT DEMOCRACY?

But can the BJP, the ruling party, complain?

Back in August 2012 Jaitley, then leading the Opposition, had said: "Our strategy does not permit us to allow the government to use Parliament [for debate] without being held accountable...we do not want to give an escape route through debate."His remarks were reinforced by his party colleague Sushma Swaraj's statement: "Not allowing Parliament to function is also a form of democracy."

The present Winter Session is scheduled to run till January 5.

While the cost of running the Lok Sabha is Rs 1.5 crore an hour, that of Rajya Sabha is Rs 1.1 crore.