No end to Parl logjam as blame game on

The Rajya Sabha failed to transact any business again on Monday as the ruling and opposition sides engaged in heated arguments over continued disruptions amid protests prompting Finance Minister Arun Jaitley accusing alleged that the Deputy Chairman was not allowing the Government to speak which is a bad precedent. 

While the Opposition accused the Government of making no effort to end the deadlock, the ruling side hit back by saying that the Congress was resorting to “disruption” as a determined strategy of not allowing Parliament to function.

Jaitley took strong objection to Congress members stopping their slogan-shouting to allow Azad and Tyagi to speak, saying, “It is unfortunate the way House is being conducted... loP (leader of Opposition) is allowed to speak while the Government is not allowed to respond.” “...You can’t have the House conducted in a manner in which Government is not allowed to speak,” an agitated Jaitley said. 

He said it was the responsibility of the Chair (Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien who was in the seat) to “safeguard the rights of the Government”. Kurien also slammed the behaviour of Opposition members. Congress members from Andhra Pradesh held banners that read “Implement Special Status for AP State”, marched angrily towards the Treasury Benches. 

Jaitley said there is an “uneasy impression” that disruption over External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj was only a “pretext” and “the real reason was that they (Congress) does not want the GST Constitution Amendment Bill to get passed”.

There was huge uproar over appointment of two Governors and signing of the Naga accord allegedly without consulting the States concerned. The Opposition said that not consulting the Chief Ministers of States concerned with regard to appointment of Governors to Bihar and Himachal Pradesh as also the signing of the Naga accord demolishes the talk of cooperative federalism.

leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad also raised the issue of appointment of Governors and the Naga accord issue. “New things are coming up... The concept of cooperative federalism has been demolished,” Azad said, while claiming that the Chief Ministers of the States concerned were not consulted over appointment of Governors or the Naga accord.

On the occasion, Azad reminded Jaitley that when he was the leader of Opposition, he during a speech advocated the continuous disruption by stating “dissensions and disruptions are part of healthy parliamentary democracy”.  Azad said since Jaitley has moved to the Treasury Benches, he cannot change his stand now.

When Azad asked, “how will the deadlock endIJ” Jaitley said the Government repeatedly tried to end the logjam but the Opposition said that it was a considered decision not to allow Parliament to function. 

JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav hit out at Jaitley for failing to find a “middle path” to break the deadlock in the House since the beginning of the Monsoon Session. Contending that his party was against any disruption, SP leader Naresh Agarwal said, “If the Prime Minister had called an all-party meeting, a solution would have come out.”

Kurien said both the Government and Opposition, who are important constituents of the House, should come out with a solution as Parliament is for debate, discussions and decisions and not disruptions.

Jaitley said since the members insist on finding a middle path, they should equally help the Government in doing so.While Azad questioned the impression made by the Government that Parliamentary Affairs Minister had spoken to him and Congress leader in lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge to end the stalemate over lalitgate and Vyapam scam, which actually never happened, Jaitley said the Government had, in fact, reached out to a number of leaders in Congress while the Speaker had also called an all-party meeting to end the deadlock.