For long, Room 53 of Parliament House has been the press conference venue for political parties whenever Parliament is in session. On some days, there are as many as three press conferences back-to-back in the room between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.
Curiously, this session, the media has had to scramble for chairs as the additional seating arrangement along the wall of the rather spacious room has been removed. With only the Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) having conducted press conferences in Parliament this session, the party spokespersons have had to face some jibes about how their political decimation was becoming evident in their inability to even get enough chairs placed for their briefings.
It remains to be seen if a similar fate awaits the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is yet to address its maiden press conference in Parliament this session. That it has not done so in the first four days of Parliament is, indeed, a departure from old practises for a party considered to be the most media-savvy of all.
