Government transacts business

August 06, 2015 02:46 am | Updated November 16, 2021 04:38 pm IST

Congress president Sonia Gandhi with JD(U) leaderSharad Yadav, Manmohan Singh and other Oppositionmembers protests outside Parliament House onWednesday. Photo: V. Sudershan

Congress president Sonia Gandhi with JD(U) leaderSharad Yadav, Manmohan Singh and other Oppositionmembers protests outside Parliament House onWednesday. Photo: V. Sudershan

The stalemate in Parliament continued on Wednesday with both the government and the Congress sticking to their positions and the government deciding to utilise the Opposition boycott to transact some business in the Lok Sabha.

Highly placed sources in the government indicated that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj could make a statement in the Lok Sabha on the Lalit Modi row on Thursday or Friday before the Opposition boycott of the Lower House ends.

Unlike the Rajya Sabha, where Ms. Swaraj’s brief statement came amid protests and din, the Lok Sabha these days is functioning with no significant opposition. “The wash out has been washed out. Bills are being passed,” a Cabinet minister remarked on a day the Lok Sabha passed the Supplementary demands for grants in respect of the Budget (General) 2015-16.

The Lok Sabha also passed the Bill to amend the Delhi High Court Act, which had already been passed by the Rajya Sabha. There were indications that even the Real Estate Bill could be brought in.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu backed the Speaker’s decision of suspending 25 Congress MPs on Monday when asked if the government would recommend revocation of the suspensions. “The Speaker has taken a painful decision to maintain conduct…We will have no objection if they approach her for revocation,” Mr. Naidu said, but quickly added that the government will not intervene. Criticising the Opposition’s boycott, he said: “They are showing solidarity for the wrong cause. They should show solidarity with the people of the country. People are waiting for the early passage of the Bills. Obstruction is disservice to the nation.”

Sources in Speaker Sumitra Mahajan’s office told The Hindu that she had given “all indications that she would revoke the suspension” of the 25 MPs as early as possible, but the “obstinacy” with which the Opposition was behaving has stayed her hand. The Youth Congress, led by its chief Raja Singh Brar, carried out a protest march to the Speaker’s residence, and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi declared that “we respect the Speaker but not her decision.”

Cong. unrelenting “The Congress has not indicated that it would desist from placard waving if the suspension is revoked,” said a source in the Speaker’s office.

Silchar MP Sushmita Deb said the Congress had been forced to wave placards due to the Speaker’s refusal to allow them to speak. “If we are not allowed to speak in the House, we have to wave placards to make our point,” she said to The Hindu .

The Opposition’s solidarity on boycotting Parliament remained firm on the third day with N.K. Premachandran of the CPI(M) writing to the Speaker pointing out that she had suspended three members – M. Ramachandran, M.K. Raghavan and K. Suresh – who were present in a committee meeting and not the well of the House. He underlined that the member being present in the House and causing grave disorder at the time of being named was a prerequisite under Rule 374A, which she had invoked.

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