The second part of the Budget Session of Parliament came to a sudden end on Wednesday after a virtual washout because of relentless opposition demands for the resignation of PM Manmohan Singh and ministers Ashwani Kumar and P K Bansal.

The three-week second phase, which began on 22nd April, was adjourned sine die, after half of Parliament’s time was wasted due to disruptions caused by the opposition on various issues.

The session was scheduled to end two days later. During this part of the session, the Lok Sabha met for 94 hours and 42 minutes but lost 92 hours and 40 minutes.

The Rajya Sabha lost over 82 hours while it sat for about equal time. Of the 32 sittings, Question Hour could not be taken up on 21 days.

The time was lost due to disruptions on several issues like vetting of CBI report on coal blocks allocation, leakage of JPC report, plight of ethnic Tamils in Sri Lanka and demands for resignation of Railways Minister P K Bansal in connection with bribery charges against his nephew.

With the abrupt end of the session, key legislations like the Food Security Bill, the Land Acquisition Bill and land boundary agreement with Bangladesh could not be passed.

The only business that was transacted was the passage of the Finance Bill marking the completion of the Budgetary exercise and the Railway Budget without any discussion after walkout by the Opposition.

The government tried to get the Food Security Bill passed in the Lok Sabha but BJP stood ground saying it would allow this only if the Congress removed Bansal and Kumar.

Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, who did not make the customary closing remarks before adjourning the House sine die, justified the decision to end the session early, saying “the House was not running”.

She said the disturbances created by MPs in the House amounted to betrayal of the people who have elected them.

In the Rajya Sabha, Chairman Hamid Ansari expressed strong displeasure over the washout of this part of the Budget session and asked MPs whether they have assessed the “impact of disruptive behaviour on public opinion”.

“The record of the work done, and not done, is in the public domain and in no need of commentary…The experience of this session, and particularly of second half, should induce cogitation on a number of matters arising out of situations in which the House finds itself in its daily functioning,” the Chairman said before adjourning the House sine die.

Posing three questions before the members, which he said need to be addressed, Ansari wondered whether the balance between deliberations, legislations and accountability has been lost due to regular disruptions of the proceedings.

Before the adjournment, members of the Rajya Sabha whose term would be ending soon chose it as an opportune moment to highlight that peaceful functioning of Parliament was paramount for survival of Indian democracy.

Among the eight members whose term is going to expire is the Prime Minister but he did not speak.

The term of Singh, a member from Assam, ends on 14th June but he is sure to be re-elected.