No end in sight for Parliament slugfest

There are no signs of the logjam in Parliament easing, though the Rajya Sabha met on Thursday after a two-day break. While the Lok Sabha adjourned for the day in deference to the funeral of former President A P J Abdul Kalam, the Rajya Sabha met post-lunch but no business could be transacted due to protests by Opposition benches.

Even an all-party meeting called by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan failed to make any headway. Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge made it clear that the onus of running the House was on the government.

Congress members resorted to sloganeering when Minister Rajnath Singh started reading out a statement in the Rajya Sabha on the Gurdaspur attack. Congress members later said the understanding with the government, the home minister was expected to just “lay” the statement. But a senior Congress leader said, it appeared that the government was keen to show that they had managed to get the House functioning and intended to take up a discussion on the issue.

HOUSE PROCEEDINGS

• The Rajya Sabha on Thursday met after a two-day hiatus
• The Lok Sabha had been adjourned for the day in deference to the funeral of former president A P J Abdul Kalam
• Speaker Sumitra Mahajan called an all-party meeting, which failed to break Parliament logjam
• The government indicated it was amenable to convene another all-party meeting to find a way out of the deadlock

After the Speaker’s meeting, the government indicated it was amenable to convene another all-party meeting to find a way out of the deadlock.

The Speaker said she appealed to parties to maintain decorum in the House by not displaying placards during their protests. Mahajan said most parties agreed with her views and that she was optimistic that such protests would stop in the remaining days of the session. Earlier this week, the Speaker had suspended Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury for a day for banging a placard on her table. Kharge accused the government of not reaching out to the Opposition ever since the session started on July 21. Denying the charges of being “obstructionist”, Kharge said, Congress was only emulating BJP leaders such as L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley who during the UPA 2 government had termed disruptions of Parliament “a legitimate tactic” to pressure the government. Trinamool Congress’ Sudip Bandhyopadhyay slammed the government for its “undemocratic attitude”.

Rajnath Singh said Bharatiya Janata Party members never used placards when in the opposition, which was strongly contested by the opposition members. Opposition sources said Singh “welcomed” their suggestion for an all-party meeting.

In a related development, the Speaker indicated the Lok Sabha might not pursue the privilege motion against Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra. BJP MP Arjun Ram Meghwal moved a privilege motion against Vadra for his social media post. Meghwal said Vadra’s post had insulted Parliament. Vadra has replied to the notice, saying it wasn’t his intent to hurt anyone and that he was exercising his right to freedom of expression.

“I do not think it is such a big issue. I have also read the letter. Maybe it will not be pursued further. I can say that much,” Mahajan said.

Earlier in the day, the BJP condemned the “atrocious behaviour” of the Congress MPs in the Rajya Sabha for ignoring an “issue of national security” and raising slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Congress Communication chief Randeep Surjewala said, “May I request the BJP government as also their leaders to not give sermons to the Congress party or the country considering BJP's own poor track record in dealing with terrorism... BJP's track record has been far from good in tackling terrorism. The last time BJP was in power, its foreign minister led terrorists like Maulana Masood Azhar and other and left them in Kandhar, Afghanistan.”

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley demanded Congress President Sonia Gandhi answer for the “irresponsible statements” by some Congress leaders on the hanging of 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts convict Yakub Memon.

Retorting to that barb, Surjewala said, “The BJP, instead of linking terror and every incident of terror to religion, caste or region, would be well advised to take care of the national security, which is under question post prime minister's Ufa visit and patting himself on his back. After that the infiltration incidents have gone up many fold.”