At least 15 MPS skip Question Hour despite listing questions

NEW DELHI: At least 15 lawmakers, mostly from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), were not available during the Question House in Lok Sabha on Monday even though their names were listed for posing questions to ministers, people familiar with the matter said.

A couple of Members of Parliament (MPS), however, later claimed to have been in the House and said they couldn’t participate in the Question Hour due to continuous protests by the Opposition who was seeking the removal of Union minister Ajay Kumar Mishra in connection with the Lakhimpur Kheri violence. The absence of the BJP MPS prompted the Opposition to draw the Speaker’s attention to the issue, the people cited above said on condition of anonymity. The MPS went missing even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi directed BJP Parliamentarians to regularly attend House proceedings or face consequences. “Apne aap mein parivartan laiye, warna parivartan apne aap aajata hai (change yourselves, or changes will happen on their own),” Modi said during a parliamentary party meeting earlier this month. His statement was seen as a warning to the party’s MPS that their performance in Parliament would be a determinant while deciding tickets ahead of the next election.

Meanwhile, the Congress launched a campaign against Modi’s absence from Parliament. Party leaders carried posters in Parliament, claiming that the Prime Minister had not returned to the House ever since the opening day of winter session. Last week, Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu had expressed displeasure on ministers being absent even though papers were listed against their names.