NEW DELHI: Even as the stalemate in Parliament continued for the sixth day, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla held an all party meeting on Tuesday and requested both the Opposition and the ruling party to allow the smooth functioning of the House.
However, the meeting failed to made any headway consensus, said sources. While the Opposition is insisting on a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Adani issue, the government and BJP insists on an apology from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his ‘democracy under attack’ remarks in London.
According to sources familiar with the developments, the Speaker asked both sides to set aside their demands and allow the House to function. Congress Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who attended the meeting, conveyed to the Speaker that they won’t climb down from the demand for a JPC probe and the matter will be discussed in the Opposition parties ‘ meeting, which is usually held every morning before the session.
Meanwhile, most of the Opposition parties did not attend a meeting of the floor leaders called by Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankar. After both the Houses were adjourned till 2 pm, Opposition MPs from 17 parties staged an unprecedented protest in the corridors of the first floor of Parliament House reiterating their demand of a JPC probe into the Adani-Hindenburg row.
Chanting slogans, leaders from the Congress, DMK, Left parties, Bharat Rashtra Samithi, the Aam Aadmi Party and others took part in the protest. While many were holding placards which read ‘Modi-Adani are brothers and they sold the country’, they also hung a banner with images of PM Modi and Adani from the first floor of the building.
Ever since the second leg of the Budget session began a week ago, both Houses are in turmoil due to continuous disruption by members from the Opposition as well as the ruling party. Opposition leaders allege that it is for the first time in the history of parliamentary democracy in India that the ruling party was obstructing the business of the House.
Taking to Twitter, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said, “Piyush Goyal is accusing Opposition of boycotting meeting called by RS chairman. This is from the Leader of the House who got his MPs to prevent LoP Khargeji ji from speaking twice after Chairman had permitted him. Silencing of LoP is also an issue quite apart from the JPC on Adani,” he said.