Arms scandal stalls Indian parliament again

NEW DELHI, India -- A loose alliance of India's communist and regional parties is set to launch nationwide protests to turn up the heat on the coalition government over a sensational arms bribery scandal.

India's houses of parliament were disrupted for the fifth working day in a row on Tuesday as opposition and government deputies argued over the "tehelka tapes" scandal.

Both the lower house and the upper house were adjourned due to shouting matches over the secretly shot documentary by the Internet website www.tehelka.com, which showed officials apparently taking money from journalists posing as arms dealers.

The opposition, sensing that it has the government on the ropes, looked set to keep the punches coming over an affair that has already forced the resignation of the defense minister and two political party chiefs.

Newly formed 'People's Front'

Communist Party of India (Marxist) Chief Whip Nilotpal Basu said his party and a string of other opposition groups, which have banded together and named themselves the People's Front, would also raise the tempo of street protests in New Delhi and around the country.

The pace of political activity is expected to quicken next weekend when the main opposition party, Congress, will begin the first phase of a "long haul" program to oust Vajpayee's government with public meetings in each district of the country.

An opinion poll commissioned by the India Today magazine found that 69 percent of Indians believed Prime Minister Vajpayee should stay on. But 81 percent felt the scandal had dealt a serious or very serious blow to his coalition.

Leaders of the ruling coalition said they would not take the opposition attacks lying down and vowed to take the battle to the people.

"We will tell the nation the facts of the case. No deal was struck, no minister was involved. It was only a fictitious deal," said V.K Malhotra, spokesman of Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Two key officials from the Prime Minister's Office -- one of whom was mentioned in passing in the documentary -- appeared before reporters on Monday night for the first time since the scandal broke a week ago to deny allegations made in the film.

One of the biggest problems of the continued parliamentary paralysis is the fate of the budget bill, which should go into effect on April 1.

The government was expected to seek temporary measure which would allow routine expenditure. Opposition parties, including Congress, have said that they would not block such a measure.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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