Amit Shah takes serious view of MPs absence from Rajya Sabha
NEW DELHI: A day after the Opposition forced passage of an amendment to the Constitution Bill on OBC Commission, party chief Amit Shah warned MPs not to be absent from both the Houses of the Parliament for the remaining part of the Monsoon session.
The BJP also accused the Congress of being “anti-OBC” for creating another roadblock in granting the Constitutional status to the Commission.
As many as 30 BJP MPs were absent in the Rajya Sabha on Monday when the bill was taken up for discussion and passage in the House.
Incidentally, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had urged the MPs in the last parliamentary party meeting to attend proceedings of the two Houses regularly. Union minister for parliamentary affairs Ananth Kumar told reporters that the party would be speaking to the absentee MPs on Monday.
He quoted Shah having told the Parliamentary party meeting that the MPs should obey the whip issued to be present at times when crucial bills were taken up for discussion and passage in the two Houses.
BJP national general secretary and veteran MP Hukum Dev Narayan Yadav held a joint-press meet and accused the Congress of being “anti-OBC”. The amendment, which has been passed by the Rajya Sabha, seeks enhancement of the number of members in the Commission.
Sources said the Lok Sabha was likely to reject the amendment passed by the Rajya Sabha. The government was keen to push the bill’s passage similar to what had been passed by the Lok Sabha in the Budget session of Parliament, they said.
“The Congress is opposed to constitution of the OBC Commission. The party has been against the interests of the OBC for 70 years and continues to remain the same,” said Bhupinder Yadav.