The Government will make a last-ditch effort on Monday to end the logjam in Parliament by holding an all-party meet, but the Congress on Friday said it saw no point in attending the meet without any tangible proposal from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on its demands.
Anxious to ensure smooth conduct of legislative business in the two Houses, the Government maintained that it was willing “to walk the extra mile” to run Parliament and asked the Congress “to introspect” over its conduct in the ongoing Monsoon Session.
Obstruction of Parliament for the last two weeks was “hurting economic growth” and reform agenda of the country, a senior Minister said.
He said the Government may not be averse to the Congress Party’s demand for a statement from the Prime Minister, “if any such proposal is made out by it.”
“But even if heavens fall, there would be no resignations from the BJP’s side as demanded by the Congress,” he said.
Addressing a Press conference, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu said he wanted to convene an all-party meet “today itself” but the Congress excused itself saying the party had a meeting.
He said the Government has been accommodating the Congress’ demands on various legislations and that the washout for the second consecutive week of the Monsoon Session was not for want of Government’s cooperation with the Opposition.
Rejecting the Congress’ demand that Union Minister Sushma Swaraj and two BJP Chief Ministers resign over their alleged role in scams, he claimed that in the 14 months of the BJP Government’s rule, there has been no scam, scandal or political vendetta. “Congress wants a satisfactory proposal. You are in Opposition and you will be satisfied only when you are in power. We cannot help it. It may take 10, 20, 25 years,” he told mediapersons and insisted
it was the Opposition, mainly the Congress and left, which was responsible for the washout of proceedings in both the Houses.
Naidu said the Congress may claim “victory” over the washout and feel “happy, very happy” about it but it had to consider if it was not “harming” the country’s development.
“Congress can claim victory over the washout. Nation has lost out badly. It should introspect if it wants to participate in the nation’s development... Congress is ending up hurting itself politically and hurting the country’s development,” he said.
Naidu hoped that the GST Bill could be passed in Parliament as barring the Congress, all other parties were supporting it. He accused the Congress of delaying GST, land and Real Estate Bills by putting its dissenting note.
Naidu dismissed that the Government has agreed to make major changes in the land Bill saying all reports were speculative as the Joint Parliamentary panel discussing the Bill has yet not even submitted its report.
With no solution in sight to break the logjam for the second week in a row, Rajya Sabha failed to transact any business on Friday as the stalemate continued with the Opposition persisting with its demand for resignation of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj over the lalit Modi issue and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan over the Vyapam scam.
Attacking Prime Minister Modi, Deputy leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma said Parliament is not functioning because of his “arrogance and obduracy” as he has refused to end his “maun vrat” (vow of silence) on the issue.
leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad moved a motion that proceedings of the House be adjourned and Prime Minister Modi should come to the House and tell what action he has taken to ensure Chouhan’s resignation in the Vyapam scam.
Hoping that “some wisdom will dawn” on the Government over the weekend, Sharma said that if this happens, then Parliament could function smoothly. Sharma’s remarks are significant as the Government had planned an all-party meeting earlier in the day, but it was postponed after the Congress had reportedly expressed its inability to attend it due to preoccupation with other meetings.
Azad moved a motion which read: “The business of the House should be adjourned and the Prime Minister should come to the House and tell us what action he has taken for resignation of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister in the Vyapam scam. If Prime Minister comes and announces resignation, then we will listen,” he said.
Rejecting Azad’s demand, the Government ruled out any resignations and said the Opposition members were disrupting the proceedings every day on the same issue even though the ruling side is ready for a discussion.
Azad recalled that in the Narasimha Rao Government when he was Parliamentary Affairs Minister, the Opposition had demanded the resignation of the then Foreign Minister and he had apprised the Prime Minister about it and the Minister had resigned. “I told the Prime Minister about the Opposition’s demand, the Foreign Minister resigned and we announced the same in Parliament,” he said, recalling that AB Vajpayee was then the leader of Opposition.
Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien suggested that attempts should be made for consensus and the Treasury Benches and the Opposition should find some solution for the stalemate. Kurien observed that the interaction between both sides appeared to be perfect and he hoped that a solution would emerge so that the House can conduct proceedings in the next meeting.
While Azad said a solution could be found but the Government should respond on the content of resolutions of the Opposition, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi replied saying that the Opposition did not seem ready for a discussion on the issues. He added that the Government was not affected by slogans of Opposition but was in fact trying to make it a partner in the country’s progress.
Responding to Naqvi, Azad said the Government should take action, after which there will be discussion. He also emphasised that there should not be a just “dry discussion.” “We just do not want to sit, chat, eat snacks and go away. The meeting should reach some concrete stage. Action will follow discussion,” Azad emphasized.
When the House met post lunch to take the Private Member’s Bill, Azad’s suggestion that the Private Members’ Resolutions could be taken up in the next session got the consensus of the House. D Raja of CPI, who had moved one of the resolutions, supported Azad. leader of House Arun Jaitley too gave his consent and the list of business regarding Private Members’ Resolutions was postponed to the next session.
later at the Congress media briefing, Anand Sharma said its participation in an all-party meeting to break the two-week long deadlock in Parliament depended on a “tangible” proposal from the Prime Minister on opposition demands.
“We are not interested in mere photo-op, tea and sandwiches. The PM must first tell us what action is being taken on our demands,” Sharma said.
ENDS