Second adjournment motion: BJP accuses Congress of doublespeak

The BJP on Tuesday tried to table an adjournment motion in parliament on the issue of FDI in retail, but failed. The move comes even as its earlier adjournment motion on the black money issue is pending.

The Congress suggested that the BJP should back off, saying that not more than one adjournment motion could be permitted in a session.

However, senior BJP leaders accused the Congress of doublespeak and recalled that when the Congress was in the opposition in 2002, two notices for adjournment motions were admitted within a span of five days.

Recalling the 2002 winter session, a BJP leader said Congress president Sonia Gandhi was the opening speaker at one such motion. Sonia and 21 other MPs had tabled an adjournment motion on the issue of “unprecedented drought in the country”. It was tabled on November 22, 2002, holding the NDA government responsible for failing to combat the situation.

The element of “censure,” in the motion, the BJP leader inferred, had been clearly mentioned in the motion.

Again on November 18, 2002, he said, an adjournment motion was moved by a few MPs against the NDA government’s “failure to curb communal elements in the country” and the motion was admitted.