NEW DELHI: Two days after meeting with the Lok Sabha Speaker to protest the functioning of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) regarding the Waqf Bill, the Opposition MPs of the panel have decided to boycott the upcoming meetings scheduled for November 9-14.
The panel is set to embark on a five-state tour from Saturday and will hold meetings in Guwahati, Bhubaneswar, Kolkata, Patna and Lucknow over the next six days. The team is expected to submit its report during the first week of winter session of Parliament, which is set to commence on November 25.
Announcing the decision, Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee said, “All the opposition members of the JPC have decided to boycott the tour and its meetings as the chairman is working in an arbitrary and high-handed manner.”
At a press conference in Kolkata, Banerjee said the future course of action will be decided jointly by the Opposition members. Speaking to this newspaper, DMK MP A Raja said that the decision to boycott the meeting was taken jointly by all members. “There is no transparency in the functioning of the panel,” he added.
Another MP said that no action was taken by Speaker Om Birla, though he assured the Opposition to look into their concerns.
“The panel chairman does not follow due process of consultation. The Speaker spoke to us in a cordial way, but nothing happened after that,” he said.
Banerjee said the JPC chairman fixed a hectic schedule, hence the Opposition members met the Speaker seeking deferment of the schedule and reduction in the number meeting days. The TMC leader said the Speaker agreed verbally but took no action.
The members have warned that they might be forced to disassociate with the JPC as they have been stonewalled.