Cheery Leaders
Bonhomie was in the air minutes before the Lok Sabha began its sitting for the first day of the Winter Session as PM Narendra Modi walked up to the Opposition benches and exchanged pleasantries with Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge. Kharge, who had been speaking with Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu minutes before, discussed something with Modi. Modi also wished SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and the two shared a joke with BJP veteran Murli Manohar Joshi. Modi was present during most part of the debate on the Constitution listening to various leaders.
In the Back Seat
Congress president Sonia Gandhi was not in her designated seat in the front row of the Opposition benches. She walked in five minutes late and sat on the last bench, next to Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu. She walked up to her seat when Home Minister Rajnath Singh began his speech on the Constitution after the obituary references had been made. Sonia, who was reading out from a speech written in Devanagri script, seemed to be enjoying herself to the hilt when she mentioned that Ambedkar had said that his being in the drafting committee was evidence of the discipline of the Congress party. “You have any objection?” she quipped when there were protests from the treasury benches.
Just in Jest
The traditional banter between Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu and Mallikarjun Kharge took an interesting turn on Friday when the former said that the Gulbarga MP had taken 72 minutes to complete his speech, a number which was equivalent to his age. Later, when Naidu spoke for over an hour, Kharge was quick to say that the minster had spoken for minutes more than his age, eliciting laughter from MPs and the Speaker.
State of Ambedkar’s Identity
West Bengal MPs tried to correct each other about B R Ambedkar’s consitutency while participating in the discussion. Trinamool Congress MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay said Ambedkar represented undivided Bengal, but BJP MP S S Ahluwalia said that was incorrect. In response, Trinamool Congress member and historian Sugata Bose clarified that Ambedkar indeed represented Bengal. “Ambedkar represented Jessore and Khulna constituencies from undivided Bengal. When Partition happened, these areas went to Pakistan Constituent Assembly, and then Ambedkar was re-elected to the Constituent Assembly from Bombay Province,” he said.
Late Flight
CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury had a flight to catch and requested to be allowed to speak first in Rajya Sabha. His rival in state politics, Trinamool Congress’ Derek O Brian, made Yechury wait.