Oppn meets Venkaiah, LS Speaker amid House din
NEW DELHI: The Upper House of Parliament witnessed 11 adjournments on Wednesday, even as leaders of over a dozen opposition parties met Rajya Sabha chairperson M Venkaiah Naidu and Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan to demand discussions on key issues of national importance.
Both houses of Parliament witnessed disruptions for the 20th consecutive day since the second part of the budget session began on March 5. The session will conclude in another two days.
The government moved the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill-2013 when the house met at 2 pm. Deputy chairman PJ Kurien, who was in the chair, sought a voice vote on the bill amid vociferous protests by legislators belonging to the AIADMK, Telugu Desam Party and the YSR Congress.
Opposition leader Ghulam Nabi Azad blamed the ruling side for the disruptions, stating that the government was trying to evade discussions on various issues, such as special status to Andhra Pradesh, Cauvery water distribution, CBSE paper leak and the banking fraud. “An impression is being created outside that opposition parties are not allowing the house to function. But it is the ruling party
that’s running away from the discussion... I’m sorry to say that the treasury benches are not allowing the house to function,” he said amid an uproar by National Democratic Alliance (NDA) members.
Earlier in the day, Naidu had termed the opposition’s protests as the “murder of democracy”. Alleging that a handful of people were obstructing the proceedings, he requested the members to allow the passage of the anti-corruption bill.
Kurien also made a similar request. “Many programmes of the government will be stalled if the Prevention of Corruption Bill
is not passed. The bill is not in the government’s interest, it is in national interest,” he said.
Leaders belonging to many political parties, including the Congress, BSP, SP, DMK, NCP, AAP, TMC and Left, later met Naidu and Mahajan separately to discuss the lack of debate in both the houses.
The Congress said it was in favour of extending the session by a day or two.
“We want to hold discussions on key issues of national importance and pass legislations too. The government should take the lead in doing do,” said Azad.