Oppn pens protest letter against Naidu

A section of the opposition has prepared the draft of a letter to protest certain actions of Rajya Sabha chairman Venkaiah Naidu and is waiting for an appropriate time to hand it over to him.

The litany includes allegations that Naidu “doesn’t allow opposition parties any space for debate, favours ruling party members and adjourns the house according to his whims and fancies,” claimed an opposition leader.

The leader pointed out that “perhaps for the first time in Rajya Sabha’s history, the House was adjourned for just 10 minutes, and it looked as if it was done to allow the BJP president Amit Shah to complete his speech.”

“All opposition parties are upset and frustrated with the completely arbitrary functioning of the chairman,” said an opposition leader.

“Naidu is supposed to be the umpire but at times he acts like a player,” said another leader.

There is, however, no clarity as to when the opposition leaders plan to hand over the letter to the upper house chairman.

A Rajya Sabha official rejected all such “absurd” charges and pointed out that the opposition had often tried to disrupt the House without any basis.

“On July 31, after the House was adjourned for the day, the chairman called Azad to his chamber and conveyed his unhappiness over the way a good discussion on NRC (National Register of Citizens) in Assam was derailed towards the end,” the official said.

“The chairman pointed out that the Question Hour was suspended to discuss. Naidu also noted that it looked as if the disruption towards the end is preplanned,” the official added.

NEWDELHI: