MPs fail to agree on restoring House order

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 3

The Monsoon session of Parliament is headed for a washout as the government’s all-party meeting, held today to resolve the ongoing parliamentary logjam, failed to achieve a breakthrough.

At the end of the two-hour meeting, the opposition Congress and the government reiterated old positions and blamed each other for nine wasted sittings in the session that commenced on July 21.

The Congress, fuelled by party president Sonia Gandhi’s position that productive discussions can’t be held unless tainted BJP leaders resigned, said it wouldn’t budge from its demands, while the government fielded Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to ask the Congress for a show of statesmanship having ruled the country for so long.

“The government has failed to act on our demands for resignations of BJP leaders involved in Lalitgate and Vyapam rows. They don’t want to break the logjam. They are behaving like kings and want the Opposition to act like slaves and subjects. That’s not how democracies run. There has to be give and take,” said Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad who attended the meeting with his Lok Sabha colleague Mallikarjun Kharge.

The Congress argued that the BJP must apply to its leaders the same standards it applied to UPA ministers accused of wrongdoings. After government managers argued in vain about past demands for resignations being rooted in CAG reports or FIRs or cognizance by courts, Kharge asked: “Were there FIRs against ex-ministers Ashwani Kumar and Pawan Bansal? No, they resigned on moral grounds. The BJP can’t set double standards on morality.”

The government’s hopes of opposition disunity were also dashed in today’s meeting where non-BJP and non-Congress parties refused to stand in the way of clashing titans or join issues. “We want discussions but first the BJP and the Congress must sort out issues and run Parliament,” TMC leader Sudeep Bandopadhyay said.

While the Left led by CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury was the only front backing the Congress’ demand for resignations of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje and MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, others — BJD, SP, BSP, RJD, NCP, AIADMK — asked the warring parties to bury the hatchet.

“We have suggested talks between the Congress and the BJP. I even said the government should adjourn Parliament sine die if they can’t find ways to run it. Less than 10% of MPs are disrupting proceedings but the government has not found a way out of it,” BJD’s Bhartruhari Mahtab said. Jaitley ending up appealing to the Congress to show some statesmanship. “A minority should not hold the House to ransom,” he said ruling out resignations.

In the parliament

Sushma Swaraj pleads innocence

The Rajya Sabha on Monday witnessed heated exchanges between the Treasury Benches and Congress MPs after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj (pic) defended herself over allegations of impropriety in the Lalit Modi issue. Swaraj said she had not made any request to the British Government for Modi's travel documents.

Farmers’ suicide: JD-U, SP demand apology

Non-Congress opposition parties on Monday raked up controversial remarks of Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh (pic) on farmers' suicide in his written reply to the House. Supported by Naresh Aggarwal of the Samajwadi Party, JD-U's KC Tyagi demanded a "clarification" and an "apology" from the Agriculture Minister on his "irresponsible" remarks that cited dowry dispute, love affairs and impotency as reasons for farmers' suicides.

‘Institution heads quit on personal grounds’

Dismissing allegations of malafide in recent serial resignations by heads of several top institutions, HRD Minister Smriti Irani said in Parliament that they resigned on personal grounds and were accordingly relieved. The resignations were "entirely on personal reasons", she said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha to a question about resignations by top nuke scientist Anil Kakodkar and R Shevgaonkar. 

Cong, like-minded parties to protest today

The Congress and like-minded nine parties, including Left, TMC, NCP and RJD, are likely to stage a protest outside the Gandhi statue in Parliament on Tuesday to register their anguish over the suspension of 25 Congress MPs. They are likely to wear black bands.

Woman MP complains against BJP leader

Congress MP from Supol in Bihar Rajeet Ranjan on Monday complained to Speaker Sumitra Mahajan against alleged unruly behaviour shown to her inside the House by BJP MP from Delhi Ramesh Bidhuri. Bidhuri allegedly talked down at Ranjan when she was protesting in the well moments before being suspended.