Monsoon session: Congress likely to move adjournment motion in LS on Vyapam scam

New Delhi: An adjournment motion on the Vyapam scam is likely to be moved by Congress in Lok Sabha on Wednesday giving a stormy start to the Monsoon Session on the first working day of the Lower House.

A decision to take up the Vyapam issue in a big way in Lok Sabha was taken at a meeting party Chief Sonia Gandhi and Vice President Rahul Gandhi had with party MPs soon after the House adjourned today after paying obituary references, party sources said.

Congress MPs also plan to stage a dharna tomorrow in front of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the Parliament House complex to demand action against those involved in the scam, which the party is insisting is bigger than the 2G spectrum allocation scam.

Sonia and Rahul could participate in the dharna, the sources said.

The opposition party has been demanding the resignation of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan insisting that a fair and impartial probe into the scam was not possible without his removal.

Congress has decided to take up the issue of corruption in a major way in this session by raising the issue of Vyapam as also the controversy involving former IPL boss Lalit Modi.

The party has been demanding the resignation of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on the Lalit Modi issue.

Prior to the scuffle, the Vyapam scam issue rocked the MP Assembly with the Opposition Congress vociferously demanding Chouhan's resignation over it and disrupting the session, that was adjourned briefly twice before being adjourned for the day amid din.

In the bedlam, the Question Hour could not be taken up due to two adjournments as the Opposition stayed put into the Well and raised slogans against Chouhan.

At noon, the Assembly was finally adjourned for the day after the House passed a Censure Motion against Congress members for indulging in unparliamentary behaviour.

Earlier in the day, as the House assembled, Speaker Sitasharam Sharma summoned advocate Siddharth Gupta and reprimanded him for breaching the privileges of the House. Gupta apologised to the House for issuing statement against the Speaker.

As Gupta was walking out of the House, Congress member Sunderlal Tiwari got up from his seat and shouted that who is going to apologise for the Vyapam scam and demanded Chouhan's resignation over it.

Tiwari along with his party members trooped into the Well and created ruckus following which the Speaker adjourned the House initially for 10 minutes.

When the House reassembled, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Narottam Mishra tabled Censure Motion against Congress members amid sloganeering between the treasury benches and Opposition members over Vyapam.

The Question Hour could not be taken up and the Speaker again adjourned the proceedings till 11.30 am.

When the House reassembled, the unrelenting Congress members again trooped into the Well and sought Chouhan's resignation.

At noon, the Speaker took up the Censure Motion against the Opposition members which was passed by voice vote.

Amid noisy scenes, the Speaker took up today's listed business and adjourned the House for the day.