Opposition parties demand restoration of normalcy in Parliament

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In a near alienation of the BJP, other Opposition parties, including the Left, and Samajwadi Party came together on Thursday against continued stalling of Parliament, demanding normalcy and a probe into the coal block allocation issue by a sitting Supreme Court judge.

"Our party along with CPI, CPI(M) and TDP today decided to stage dharna in front of Parliament tomorrow to demand an inquiry into the coal block allocation scam by a sitting Supreme Court judge," SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav told reporters here.

"We are talking to other parties also. We want there should be a probe into it and guilty should be punished," he said after a meeting with CPI(M) leader Basudeb Acharia, CPI's Gurudas Dasgupta and TDP's Nama Nageshwar Rao.

On Prime Minister's statement on coal block allocation issue and the continued deadlock in Parliament, the SP chief said, "We want Parliament to function so that it can debate these important issues."

The meeting came in the backdrop of Parliament failing to transact any business for almost two weeks now, with the BJP continuing to create ruckus by pressing its demand for resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the issue.

Other Opposition parties like BJD and even NDA partners, JD(U) and Akali Dal, were also opposed to disruption of proceedings and have been demanding debate on the CAG report into the coal block allocation and other business.