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President Pranab Mukherjee’s censure of the members of Parliament for the continued logjam had little impact on them on Friday, as the two Houses concluded their third week of the winter session without doing any substantial business. Ruckus over demonetisation and some other issues remained unabated through the day. Both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha saw the government and the Opposition still trapped in a deadlock over the way a debate should take place on demonetisation, which was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8.
Mukherjee had on Thursday conveyed his extreme displeasure to the MPs over the continued logjam in both the Houses of Parliament. He said the continuous disruption of House proceeding was “not acceptable”. The President noted that Parliament was in session for only a few weeks in a year. “For demonstration, you can choose any other places. But for God’s sake, do your job. You are meant to transact business. You are meant to devote your time for exercising the authority of members, particularly the Lok Sabha members, over money and finance,” he said.
The two Houses are due to meet again only on next Wednesday after a four-day break. That means the session has only three working days left before it concludes on December 16. In the Lok Sabha, the impasse over demonetisation saw the government demanding apology from the opposition for paralysing Parliament, citing the adverse comments by Mukherjee over disruptions.
As soon as the House assembled for the day, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge rose to make some points but BJP members pointed to the President’s observations the previous day, which they said was an indictment of the Opposition MPs. They said the President had observed that Parliament was not a place for dharnas.
A heated exchange of words forced Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to adjourn the House for half-an-hour. When the House met again, Kharge said the Opposition was ready for debating demonetisation and has been continuously requesting for it.
However, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar insisted that since the Opposition has disrupted the House for 16 days, they must tender an apology. BJP veteran L K Advani, who had on Wednesday expressed his displeasure over the continuing impasse in the House, was at one point seen pacifying agitated ruling party members. As the pandemonium continued, the Speaker adjourned the House till noon and later for the day.
In the Rajya Sabha, members of the Congress, BSP, SP, JD(U) and the Left parties protested against slashing of import duty on wheat, saying it will hit the farmers hard, particularly when the country has enough buffer stock. The session began on November 16.
Mukherjee had on Thursday conveyed his extreme displeasure to the MPs over the continued logjam in both the Houses of Parliament. He said the continuous disruption of House proceeding was “not acceptable”. The President noted that Parliament was in session for only a few weeks in a year. “For demonstration, you can choose any other places. But for God’s sake, do your job. You are meant to transact business. You are meant to devote your time for exercising the authority of members, particularly the Lok Sabha members, over money and finance,” he said.
The two Houses are due to meet again only on next Wednesday after a four-day break. That means the session has only three working days left before it concludes on December 16. In the Lok Sabha, the impasse over demonetisation saw the government demanding apology from the opposition for paralysing Parliament, citing the adverse comments by Mukherjee over disruptions.
As soon as the House assembled for the day, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge rose to make some points but BJP members pointed to the President’s observations the previous day, which they said was an indictment of the Opposition MPs. They said the President had observed that Parliament was not a place for dharnas.
A heated exchange of words forced Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to adjourn the House for half-an-hour. When the House met again, Kharge said the Opposition was ready for debating demonetisation and has been continuously requesting for it.
However, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar insisted that since the Opposition has disrupted the House for 16 days, they must tender an apology. BJP veteran L K Advani, who had on Wednesday expressed his displeasure over the continuing impasse in the House, was at one point seen pacifying agitated ruling party members. As the pandemonium continued, the Speaker adjourned the House till noon and later for the day.
In the Rajya Sabha, members of the Congress, BSP, SP, JD(U) and the Left parties protested against slashing of import duty on wheat, saying it will hit the farmers hard, particularly when the country has enough buffer stock. The session began on November 16.
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(Published 09 December 2016, 19:52 IST)
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