NEW DELHI: The Christmas Day circular continues to provide fodder for the Opposition attack on the government. On Tuesday, the Trinamool Congress sent a privilege notice to Rajya Sabha leader Arun Jaitley, while Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, under pressure from the MPs, said she would get a factual note from the government.
The privilege notice by TMC Rajya Sabha member Derek O’Brien accused Jaitley of misleading the House.
He said the government had ordered the Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti to instruct the schools under it to remain open and observe ‘Good Governance Day’ on December 25, the Christmas Day, which is also the birthday of former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.
“The HRD Ministry denied that notifications were issued to instruct schools to remain open on December 25, 2014, which was informed by Shri Arun Jaitley in the House. Shri Jaitley said that ‘the report was factually false’,” O’Brien said in the notice.
The Trinamool Congress member, while attaching a photocopy of a newspaper report, said that it “proves that the report is factually true. Indeed, a circular was issued by the Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti to its schools urging them to conduct certain activities on December 25”.
He cited a circular issued on December 10.
Seeking a privilege motion against Jaitley “misleading this august House”, O’Brien said: “Shri Jaitley has misled the House by suppressing facts and stated that no such circulars had been issued.”