On the persuasion of the Opposition, Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu on Friday held an informal meeting of the ruling party and the Opposition in an attempt to resolve the stalemate over the suspension of 12 House members. But the talks were inconclusive.
The meeting, held before the House was convened for the day, was attended by Leader of House Piyush Goyal, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi and his deputy, V. Muraleedharan. Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge and Congress Chief Whip Jairam Ramesh represented the Opposition.
Mr. Naidu, according to sources, urged the two sides to work together to end the deadlock. But with both remaining adamant on their stated positions, no solution was forthcoming.
The House functioned for 19 minutes. Adjourning the House for the day, Mr. Naidu aid, “I had a talk with the Leader of House and also some senior members of the Opposition. I would like to appeal to each one of you to please arrive at some consensus to see to it that the House functions normally. In order to facilitate discussion among yourselves, I am adjourning the House.”
Speaking to The Hindu later, Mr. Kharge said, “Conversation cannot happen in the middle of a disorder. Whenever we try to speak of our MPs or raise crucial issues like Lakhimpur Kheri, where protesting farmers were deliberately mowed down, the treasury benches shouts us out. Leader of the House says his piece but we are not given time to rebut him.”
Mock Parliament
The suspended MPs, together with their other colleagues at the site where they have been staging a sit-in for the last 17-days, held a ‘Jan Sansad’ (mock Parliament).
“We don’t have permission to go inside Parliament, so we are organising it outside. Nobody can stop the people’s Parliament,” suspended TMC member Dola Sen said. CPI(M) Elamaram Kareem was the Chairman. Congress MPs Ripun Bora and Akhilesh Prasad Singh were the Leader of House and Parliamentary Affairs Minister respectively. The chair meant for the Prime Minister was kept vacant with Mr. Modi’s mask.
