Parliament disrupted over Chidambaram's role in telecom deal

New Delhi, May 8 (IANS) Both houses of parliament were disrupted Tuesday morning as the opposition raised the pitch over the alleged role of Home Minister P. Chidambaram in helping his son get financial benefits from a telecom deal when he was finance minister.

The Lok Sabha saw noisy disruptions, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seeking a reply from the government on the issue.

Some BJP MPs staged protests near Speaker Meira Kumar's podium and disrupted the crucial question hour.

The speaker first tried to restore peace in the house asking protesting MPs to go back to their seats. As the MPs intensified their protests, Meira Kumar adjourned the house till noon.

Pandemonium returned when the house resumed at 12 noon. Amid noisy protests, the speaker allowed some business documents to be laid down in the house before adjourning the house till 1 p.m.

Opposition MPs cited Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy's allegations that Chidambaram had delayed permission for the sale of Aircel to Malaysia-based Maxis in 2006 when he was finance minister so that his son, Karthi, was financially benefited.

"The BJP is going to raise the matter very seriously in both the houses. The government is not coming with true facts pertaining to the deliberate delays in the Aircel-Mexis deal because of the interest of then finance minister. We want a reply from the government in parliament," said BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad.

He said the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is being misused and the investigative agency wants to put it on the backburner.

The upper house saw two adjournments, first for 10 minutes and then till 12 noon.