The Parliament deadlock entered its tenth day on Tuesday, with no indication of witnessing a usual transaction of businesses in the monsoon session.
Opposition parties continued to stall proceedings in both the Houses over Coalgate, the coal allocation scam which grabbed nationwide attention owing to the whopping magnitude of the losses incurred by the state exchequer, as estimated by the Comptroller Auditor General's report.
The presiding officer in the Lok Sabha adjourned the House till Wednesday, while the Rajya Sabha session was adjourned till noon.
Main opposition BJP toughened its stand on the resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and will allow for Parliament to resume functions only once the party's demands are met. BJP has been demanding Singh to step down from his post on moral grounds due to his possible involvement in the alleged coal scam.
A CAG report on the government initiatives between 2004 and 2009 suggested that a series of lapses in the allocation of coal blocks to state and private companies had incurred a loss of ₹1860 billion to the exchequer.
Incumbent Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was responsible for the coal ministry when the alleged irregularities surfaced. His alleged involvement provoked the opposition to call for his resignation.
Not ready to compromise on Singh, the government has been putting up a fight to outgun BJP's efforts in scrapping the UPA regime over the latest coal controversy.
The Government-Opposition standoff has added to existing policy paralyses. Over 100 crucial bills in the floors of the Houses are presently facing the uncertainty of not getting passed.
Lately, the BJP softened its stand on demands to allow functioning of the Parliament. The main opposition party has asked the government to cancel the mining licenses of those companies which were allegedly granted the coal blocks and to initiate an independent probe into the matter.
However, the government is not yet ready to give into the opposition's demand on cancelling the allocated licenses, thus raising the possibility of a complete washout of the Monsoon session.
