New Delhi, Nov. 24: The Opposition today ignored the government’s offer to discuss the Iraqi oil-for-food controversy and paralysed Parliament, demanding the resignation of Sonia Gandhi and Natwar Singh.

Both Houses were adjourned shortly after the winter session opened, with NDA members stalling proceedings though the Lok Sabha agenda included a discussion on their adjournment motion.

“(The) Government is prepared to discuss the Volcker Committee report today and now,” a statement released by the Prime Minister’s Office said.

The Opposition wouldn’t relent, making it clear that Parliament would not be allowed to function till Sonia stepped down as chairperson of the National Advisory Council and Natwar quit the cabinet.

In the face of the Opposition onslaught, the government decided to react with counter-aggression. It would go for a discussion on the Volcker report in the Lok Sabha, possibly on Monday, through an adjournment motion, subject to it being in tune with rules.

This means the NDA or whoever serves the notice cannot club two or more issues with the main subject because under the rules an adjournment motion is intended to discuss issues of “immediate public importance”.

The NDA had hoped to club Volcker with other issues such as alleged payoffs by foreign agencies like the CIA and the KGB ? as revealed in the recently published Mitrokhin papers ? to the Congress and the Left.

Accusing the Opposition of running away from the debate, parliamentary affairs minister Priya Ranjan Das Munshi said the government had made the unprecedented gesture of agreeing to hold a discussion under rule 184, which calls for voting.

Das Munshi said the government was even prepared to face an adjournment motion. He cited rule 188 which disallows debate on a subject under inquiry. “Despite the matter being inquired (into) by Justice R.S. Pathak, the government agreed to have a debate,” he said.

Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, who looked lost as the two sides went for each other’s throat, was keen on the debate starting today itself, but the NDA stalled the House.

An indication of a discussion on the Volcker report came after a meeting of the business advisory committee of the Lok Sabha in which the government expressed its willingness. The Rajya Sabha committee meets tomorrow to take a decision.

Government sources said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh might intervene in the discussion, if necessary, and finance minister P. Chidambaram could be fielded as the principal speaker.

Natwar Singh, who has resigned as external affairs minister after being named an indirect beneficiary in the Volcker report but continues in the cabinet, should be given a chance to speak, feels a section in the Congress. But, a cabinet minister explained, the government believes: “Ethically, since the matter is before a committee, one should not say anything that will prejudice or influence the committee.”

At best, he could make a clarification, if it was sought.

It is believed that at today’s BAC meeting, BJP representative V.K. Malhotra was reminded of how the Vajpayee government had refused to even entertain suggestions to discuss the Tehelka disclosures in the House, invoking rule 188.

Malhotra was told that the Tehelka case was grounded in India, while the boundaries of the Volcker report went beyond its borders. Despite the international “ramifications” and rule 188, the government was ready to discuss it. Even an inquiry in the Tehelka case, sources maintained, was instituted, “under great pressure”.