NEW DELHI: A boycott by members of Parliament belonging to 11 major opposition parties marked the president’s address to the joint sitting of both the houses of Parliament Wednesday.
This is the first time parliament is witnessing a boycott of this nature by various opposition parties of the president’s customary address.
On earlier occasions individual parties had expressed their ire in a similar way in protest mostly against certain actions of the federal government.
Ten parties belonging to the National and Left Fronts boycotted the occasion in protest against the arbitrary action of the president in dismissing the Tamil Nadu government without even the governor’s report.
However members of the Bharatiya Janata Party who did likewise were protesting against the government’s decision to seek a vote on account instead of presenting a regular general budget for 1991-92.
Members from the ruling Janata Dal (S) party and its allies -the Congress (I) ALADMK National Conference and the Muslim League attended the sitting.
Article extracted from this publication >> March 1, 1991
