Clashes in House do not impact personal ties, says FM Arun Jaitley

Acrimony and clashes inside the House do not impact the bonhomie among members of Parliament belonging to different political parties, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Friday.

Jaitley said this during a function to release a collection of poetry 'Dehri Ka Mann' penned by former Congress MP Prabha Thakur and stressed there is an "environment of friendship" among MPs, especially in the Rajya Sabha.

"This afternoon I thought I would not be able to make it to the programme. But I came. The main reason was that some people think that MPs belong to different parties, and you see clashes also in Parliament...that is an incomplete story", he said.

"MPs may belong to any party but there is an environment of friendship...especially in the Rajya Sabha," said Jaitley, who is also the Leader of the Upper House.

The government is slated to bring the Constitutional Amendment Bill on the GST next week in the Rajya Sabha, where it does not enjoy majority. The main opposition party Congress is playing hardball on the bill.

The Rajya Sabha, it may be mentioned, failed to transact any business on Friday after Opposition Congress created ruckus, demanding resignation of Minister Nitin Gadkari in the wake of a CAG report that alleged irregularities involving loan extended to his family-linked Purti group.

Among others who attended the function were former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar, Congress MPs Rajeev Shukla and Renuka Chowdhury. Sharad Yadav of JDU and BJP MPs V P Singh Badnor and Tarun Vijay too attended the programme.