Click to play videoNew Delhi: Chaos reigned supreme in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on Monday over the Antulay issue. The BJP has demanded the Minority Affairs Minister's ouster, while the Congress finds itself friendless.
Both houses of Parliament have been repeatedly disrupted, with BJP members storming the well of the house. Rajya Sabha was adjourned three times, with the Speaker unable to control the MPs and the story was no different in Lok Sabha. Antulay ka ant karo (put an end to Antulay) is what the BJP demanded.
Training the guns on Congress for "speaking in contradictory voices" over the Antulay episode, BJP Spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said the political drama in that party should immediately come to an end if it is serious in the fight against terrorism.
Prasad also reiterated BJP's demand that Congress should immediately sack Antulay.
"What is the Congress party's stand. Is it what its spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi said -- the party distancing itself from Antulay's comment -- or what its senior leader Digvijay Singh said -- finding no fault with the minister's remarks?," Prasad wanted to know.
"This internal tamasha (drama) in Congress for one-upmanship is damaging for the nation. Antulay should be shown the door. We fear the fight against terrorism is getting weaker. The sooner he is sacked the better for the country," Prasad stated.
The Left too was of no comfort to the Congress either. While they condemned Antulay's statements, Left leaders demanded that the Congress take a stand and make an announcement to avoid further disruption in Parliament.
"Mr Antulay has raised some sensitive issues. He is one of the senior-most ministers in the Government holding a sensitive portfolio, that of Minority Affairs. What is the stand of the Government and what is the stand of the Congress? Congress speaks in different voices," said CPI-M leader, D Raja.
While the CPM has criticised Antulay's comment on the death of Anti-Terrorism Squad chief, Hemant Karkare, the party still hopes that Karkare's death will not derail the Malegaon blast probe.
CPM leader Brinda Karat said, "Antulay shouldn't have made that statement regarding Karkare. However, we want the Government to ensure that in the absence of Karkare, the Malegaon blast investigations are not hampered."
Meanwhile, the man who was at the centre of the storm, A R Antulay - who was present in the Lower House - held his own even as the the BJP-led Opposition members trooped into the well, shouting slogans demanding his dismissal.
Antulay remained unfazed even as sloganeering dubbing him as an "agent of Pakistan" continued. The minister has already resigned but the UPA Government is still to accept his resignation.
He said that he stood by his statement and that whatever others say did not make any difference to him.
BJP SPEAKS IN TWO VOICES
However, there was disunity within the BJP over the Antulay issue. Rajya Sabha MP from JD(U) - which is a key ally of the NDA - Ejaj Ali said if Congress decided to sack Antulay, it would send a very wrong message to the people for which both the Congress and BJP will have to pay heavily.
"There should be no uproar on Antulay's remarks. Rather all parties should support the demand. A proper investigation into the killing of Karkare and the two other officers should be made. It needs to be cleared whether Karkare fell to terrorism or some other conspiracy," Ali said.
"After his probe in Malegaon blast, a group was against Karkare and the officer had even received threats. It needs to be probed whether he fell victim to conspiracy of any such group," the JD-U MP stated.
SENA JUMPS INTO THE FRAY
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena Executive President Uddhav Thackeray has alleged that Congress was not inclined to sack Union Minorities Affairs Minister A R Antulay for his controversial remarks on the killing of Karkare in order to retain their Muslim vote bank.
Addressing a farmers rally at Saswad, Uddhav Thackeray said his party would press its Hindutva agenda with greater vigour to dislodge the Congress-led UPA Government in the coming Lok Sabha elections.
Antulay kicked up a controversy by insinuating that the Hindu radicals were behind the killing Karkare who was inquiring into their role in the Malegaon blasts case.
The Minister has been persistently asking as to who had directed Karkare to go to Cama hospital, where he claimed there was no terrorist activity, instead of going to Taj and Oberoi hotels, the main theatre of terror attack.
Karkare, along with two other police officers, Ashok Kamata and Vijay Salsarkar, was shot dead by Pakistani terrorists outside Cama hospital.
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