New Delhi, April 4: The lawmakers of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its coalition partners in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will forfeit salary of 23 days as the Parliament has failed to conduct business in the latter half of the Budget Session.

Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were scheduled to work for 23 days in the second half of the Budget Session, which began on March 5. Both the Houses, however, remained non-functional due to the ruckus created by the Opposition.

"It's because of Congress's undemocratic politics that Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have not been functional. We're ready to talk about all the issues but they are not allowing the House to function," the Minister said.

"The BJP-NDA MPs have decided to not take salary and allowances for 23 days. This money is given to serve the people and if we are not able to do so we have no right to take the people's money," he was reported as saying by news agency ANI.

The Budget Session is scheduled to conclude on April 6, subsequent to which the Parliament would be adjourned sine die. Both the Houses failed to undertake legislative business as the Opposition parties stormed the Well on each working day to agitate against the government.

Apart from the Congress, the government faced stringent challenge to run the Parliament from ally-turned-foe TDP, which rallied before the Speaker of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha on all working days demanding the special status category for Andhra Pradesh.

The TDP was joined by the YSR Congress Party, which blamed the Narendra Modi government of not fulfilling the obligations under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, which led to the bifurcation of the state.

Both the parties had submitted a no-confidence motion against the government, which could not be taken up for discussion as the AIADMK launched vociferous protest in the House over the last ten days, demanding the Centre to order the constitution of the Cauvery Management Board.

The Congress, however, has pinned the blame on Speakers of both the Houses for the failure to run the Parliament, claiming the "government would had been embarrassed" if the issues for discussion would had been taken up. "The manner in which they are running the Parliament is against democracy," Congress MP Anand Sharma had said.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 04, 2018 09:25 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).