Opposition didn’t hold parliament hostage: CPI

NEW DELHI - Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D. Raja Sunday said it was “wrong” on Congress chief Sonia Gandhi’s part to hold the opposition responsible for holding parliament “hostage” to “political blackmail” during its winter session.

“It is wrong to say that we blackmailed the government,” Raja, the party’s national secretary, told reporters, reacting to the Gandhi’s charge at the Congress plenary earlier Sunday.

Raja said the Left parties’ demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the 2G spectrum scam was also “reasonable”.

Raja, whose party has joined ranks with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in asking for a JPC in parliament’s winter session, however, asked the principal opposition party not to have “double standards” while raising the issue of corruption.

The BJP has been accused of shielding its Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa on the issue of corruption, while raising the same issue with Congress.