On The Sidelines:
* The BJP and the Congress are locked in an all out war over tit-for-tat corruption charges, suggesting that even the fourth day of the Monsoon Session of Parliament will be a washout. Both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have been facing repeated disruptions and the houses are unable to keep up scheduled business because of Opposition's uproar in Parliament.
* Seeking to provide the opposition a taste of its own medicine, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs on Friday staged a protest against Congress Chief Minister Harish Rawat at the Gandhi statue in Parliament. The protesting MPs were armed with banners stating, "Shame! Shame! Dismiss CM". "The government is coming forward for discussions but the opposition is not ready to discuss anything. We are, therefore, standing in front of the Gandhi Statue here to show the public that the opposition is not discussing," Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told ANI.
* Here is some worrying math as Parliament heads into Day 4 of the monsoon session, with the first three days washed out by protests and adjournments. If all 18 working days of this short session are disrupted, an estimated Rs. 35 crore of the taxpayer's money will be lost. Each minute of Parliament in session costs approximately Rs 29,000, according to the Parliament Secretariat. Both Houses are expected to function 11 hours a day.
* Even as Parliament has turned into a warzone with the government and the opposition up in arms against each other since the onset of the Monsoon Session, there is something that still unites our MPs across party lines -- a designated smoking area. Some Members of Parliament cutting across party lines have registered their protest against the removal of a designated smoking area in Parliament. The room set up for MPs who smoke had been closed as Parliament is a No Smoking Zone under Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products Act 2003. A stenographers pool is now using the room, till now being used by the members to enjoy a smoke.
