NEW DELHI, India — A sensational arms bribery scandal engulfing India's 17-month-old ruling coalition paralyzed the country's parliament for a sixth straight working day Wednesday.
Parliamentary proceedings were adjourned amid scenes of chaos as opposition deputies thronged around the center of the lower house bellowing "Resign, resign" at members of the coalition government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was quoted as saying that the opposition had "created a crisis" by blocking parliament.
The Press Trust of India quoted Vajpayee as saying his government was ready to discuss the scandal in parliament, but that the opposition must allow the chamber to operate.
Earlier, outside parliament, some 50 government and opposition members hurled insults at one another as security men struggled to keep them apart.
"The government should quit and save India," cried a member of the main opposition party, Congress, while members of the governing coalition ripped up opposition signs.
The scandal, which has plunged the government into its worst crisis yet, broke last week after a news Web site released secretly shot videos of senior officials and army officials apparently taking money from journalists posing as arms salesmen to push a fake defense contract.
The media sting, in which two reporters apparently bribed their way into the heart of India's defense establishment, has forced the resignation of the defense minister and two heads of parties belonging to the coalition.
An army court of inquiry, set up a day after the scandal broke, is looking into the conduct of officers in the videos.
A defense official said the army inquiry was expected to summon more than a dozen military personnel to appear before it.
On Wednesday, Tarun Tejpal, editor in chief of the upstart news service, tehelka.com—the name means "sensation"—was grilled for 90 minutes by the army inquiry.
He handed over 4-1/2 hours of videotapes of senior army officers and political figures apparently discussing defense deals with the Tehelka journalists, according to media reports.
"He (Tejpal) will probably be called again," said an army spokesman.
Parliament will resume sitting Thursday, but the Congress Party was expected to keep forcing adjournments until Friday when both houses go into recess until mid-April.
A number of bills, including a long-awaited measure to cut India's damagingly high fiscal deficit, have been put on hold as a result of the disruption.
But before the adjournment, members of the upper house cast aside their dispute long enough to approve a bill allowing the government to spend money beyond the end of the current financial year until passage of the 2001/02 budget.