BENGALURU: Expressing concern over disruptions during proceedings in Parliament and state Assemblies, Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday suggested to political parties to evolve a code of conduct for their members.
“The code should be followed in the House and in public (life),” he said during an informal interaction with the media. “The parties should make the code of conduct public as an affidavit so that people have an opportunity to observe whether they follow the assurances given,” he suggested.
Citing a newspaper article written by Congress MP Manish Tewari, he said that unfortunately, there is no correlation between a member’s performance in Parliament and his or her renomination or re-election. This situation has to change. Ethics have to be maintained in public life. Members’ performance in Parliament and constituencies should be taken into consideration when they seek reelection, he added.
“Character, calibre, capacity and conduct are very important. But, the four ‘C’s have been replaced by another set of four ‘C’s: Caste, Community, Cash and Criminality,” he said.
RS ruckus a new low in Parliament: Venkaiah
Naidu termed the recent ruckus in the Rajya Sabha as a new low in Parliament. Reiterating that he is not afraid of taking action against those responsible, Naidu said, “What happened in the Rajya Sabha is unfortunate and has to be remedied at the earliest.
I am looking into it as to what action has to be taken.” Taking action is not the only solution and political parties too have the responsibility in improving the functioning of Parliament and state assemblies, he said, suggesting strengthening of antidefection laws.
In a democracy, decency and decorum have to be maintained and the approach should be development-oriented. It works on the principle that “government proposes, opposition opposes and the House disposes,” he said. He clarified that he is not talking about politics, but is only emphasising the need to maintain order.