Labour minister Mallikarjun Kharge came under attack from BJP and Left MPs for his inadequate answers to pointed queries during Question Hour in the Lok Sabha on Monday. At one stage, Speaker Meira Kumar had to assure the members of a proper reply? ?I will take care of that?, she said?when they expressed dissatisfaction with his answers. As Kharge insisted that he would need a separate notice to answer a point raised by CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta, the member got up to point out that it formed part (B) of the first question listed in the agenda.
The members sought to know how many industrial workers had lost their jobs due to the global slowdown and the measures taken by the government to help them. There was a wave of protest as he started giving details of various government schemes. Former finance minister Yashwant Sinha, CPI(M) leader Basudeb Acharia and Arjun Charan Sethi requested Meira Kumar to intervene to ensure that the minister gave relevant answers.
When Kharge argued that he could reply to a supplementary after obtaining details from another ministry, Sinha said it was the minister?s duty to acquire information from all the ministries concerned and respond to questions once a matter had been listed in the business of the House. Rural development minister CP Joshi and his junior Pradeep Jain also faced the heat when members raised supplementary questions regarding the status of road construction projects undertaken as part of the PMGSY on Bihar.