ALL-PARTY...

A senior Opposition leader maintained that while they will participate in any such meeting , they will continue to insist on their demand for a debate on the Pegasus snooping row in which the phones of Opposition leaders, ministers, journalists and government functionaries were potentially targeted with military-grade spyware.

On Thursday, leader of the Rajya Sabha and Union minister Piyush Goyal, and parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi met leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge to propose a meeting between the parties. According to a Congress leader, Kharge said that the dialogue should be initiated by someone senior -- such as defence minister Rajnath Singh.

The monsoon session, the first full sitting of Parliament in 18 months, has faced disruption from its first day over Pegasus, farm laws and spiraling fuel prices. Opposition leaders have raised placards, snatched a statement from the new IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, blown a whistle and stormed the well of both Houses. A Trinamool Congress member, who snatched the minister’s paper, has been suspended for the remainder of the session. The raging Covid-19 pandemic forced Parliament to cut short three sessions and scrap an entire session before this one -but now there are a mere 11 days left in it.

The Opposition claimed that while the government is eager to end the logjam, it has virtually ruled out any debate on Pegasus snooping charges.

“There has been no proposal from the government so far on ending this stalemate. Remember, BJP leader Sushma Swaraj had said in January 2011, it is the government’s job to run Parliament, not that of the opposition,” said Jairam Ramesh, the Congress chief whip in Rajya Sabha. His reference is to a period when the BJP, in opposition, made it difficult for the Congress-led UPA government to conduct business.

A top leader of the ruling dispensation, according to Parliament functionaries, has asked the BJP’s floor managers to try to reach out to Opposition parties to seek a resolution.

According to an analysis by PRS Legislative Research, the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have functioned only 23% and 13% of their alloted time this session. Only eight bills have been passed in their respective House -- and without any debate and amidst the din.

The government has been able to clear just a fraction of its legislative agenda while the Opposition has been able to debate only the Covid-19 situation, one of the several issues it wanted to raise.

The strategy groups of the Congress for the two Houses met together on Thursday and the party’s leaders decided to work with Opposition parties and continue the protests.

At least three government functionaries added that there is no plan as of now to curtail the session in the wake of the protests. “The government wants to run the House and will seek cooperation from all Opposition parties,” said a senior government leader.

A functionary even claimed that the government didn’t immediately seek suspension of the eight Congress MPs who tore placards and threw papers in the House on Thursday “possibly hoping that a situation can be created for amicable negotiations to run the monsoon session”. The session started on July 19 and is scheduled to end on August 13.