After the Congress stalled the functioning of Parliament over the suspension of its MPs and raked up the issue of resignation of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and two BJP Chief Ministers, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Monday broke ranks with what has largely been a united Opposition and struck an independent stance. Maintaining that his party wants the House to function and favours a debate on the issues, the SP chief stumped the Congress by asking it to spell out its demands, which he claimed he was unaware of.
Coming just after the SP’s support to the Congress over the suspension of its MPs, Mulayam’s move at an all-party meeting convened by Speaker Sumitra Mahajan at his insistence drew support from the NCP, the RJD, the JD(U), the TMC and the AAP, thus effectively isolating the main Opposition party.
Sources said, the SP chief asked the Congress to allow the Minister concerned and the Government to reply to the allegations and end the two-week-long logjam through debate, saying everyone has the right to speak in Parliament and explain his position before the people of the country.
Following the meeting, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley singled out Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and her deputy Rahul Gandhi, though without naming them, for stalling the House. He pointed out the Congress was the only party which opposed any debate. While most Congress leaders were against disruption in Parliament, their two top leaders want to stall House, he said, adding the alleged disruption over Swaraj was only a “pretext” and the real reason was that the Congress wanted India’s growth story to suffer by obstructing the GST Bill’s passage. Jaitley reiterated the charge in the Rajya Sabha also. The Government has listed the GST Constitution Amendment Bill for passage in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
“The assessment in the Government is that there are not many in even the Congress pushing this logic that House should not run. Only their top two leaders have been stubborn on it. (They say) Parliament should not function, legislations should not be passed. If there is harm to the country, to the system let it be,” he told reporters.
Jaitley also attacked Sonia saying her policies “inflicted” on the then UPA Government were “directly responsible” for slowing down the economy. He said, the Congress was “completely isolated” on the GST Bill hence, “its best endeavour is that since it won’t be able to stop the GST it is definitely trying to delay.”
At the all-party meeting, Mulayam said that the Congress should either speak inside the House and parties will decide their support thereafter or should boycott the House and go to the people directly. He cited his own party’s stand earlier when it boycotted the Uttar Pradesh Assembly for 52 days and spoke directly to the public through a mass contact programme.
He also asserted that he had enough experience of being an 11-time MlA and six-time MP in saying that everyone has right to speak, including those against whom allegations are made.
Earlier, as the lok Sabha resumed its proceedings and Congress members renewed their protests, the SP leader had intervened and maintained that the deadlock should be broken. But that did not find favour with the Congress with Sonia seen saying “no” and party leader Mallikarjun Kharge saying that the SP leader was giving his views.
Speaker Sumitra Mahajan then said she would adjourn the House to facilitate meetings of all the leaders. The House was subsequently adjourned and a meeting was held where Mulayam adopted an aggressive stand on the continued uproar in the House. When the SP chief again sought to press his point, Sonia was seen telling partymen to resume slogan shouting in the Well, which was temporarily stopped when the SP chief was speaking.
TMC leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay said that everyone should speak in the House, including the Congress and the Government and debate the issue instead of creating stalemate. He, however, was not in agreement with the Government seeking a debate under Rule 193 on the issue.
The all-party meeting convened by the Speaker was attended by Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaih Naidu, Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Jyotiraditya Scindia and KC Venugopal, RJD leader Jaiprakash Yadav, JD(U)’s Kaushalendra Kumar, TMC leaders Sudeep Bandyopadhyaya and Saugata Roy, NCP’s Supriya Sule and AAP’s Bhagwant Mann.