On the eve of Parliament’s monsoon session, the all-party meeting ended with the ruling and the opposition promising to make life difficult for each other.
42 leaders from 29 parties, including Congress, JD(U), SP, BSP, RJD, DMK, Left parties and NDA allies, representing both the Houses of Parliament attended the two-hour long meeting called by Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Venkaiah Naidu.
The Trinamool Congress did not attend the meeting due to their own meeting in Kolkata while AIADMK remained absent without notice.
The Prime Minister chose the occasion to remind parties that smooth running of Parliament is a “shared responsibility” though the government has to take initiative for it.
Naidu said that 29 opposition parties did not back the Congress’ stand on not allowing the House to function.
Opposition’s Demands
Vyapam and LalitGate
Even as the Prime Minister offered to discuss all the issues, the government ruled out any resignation due to Vyapam or Lalit Modi.
There is no question of accepting ultimatum by anybody. From where did the question of resignation arise? Nobody can dictate terms to the government. .
— M Venkaiah Naidu, Parliamentary Affairs Minister
Leader of opposition, Ghulam Nabi Azad, induced this reply from Naidu after urging PM Modi to remove the three ministers in the middle of controversies, if he wished to have a smooth parliamentary session.
The three ministers being External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
Land Bill
JD(U) President Sharad Yadav said while Parliament should run, it depends upon day-to-day coordination between the government and the Opposition.
Whenever such a meeting is called, everybody talks about the smooth functioning of Parliament. Everybody says that the House will run but exactly the opposite happens in practice. I don’t think it will be all right in the House.
— Ram Gopal Yadav, SP Leader
To opposition leader Ram Gopal Yadav’s remarks about the weather already being bad, PM Modi agreed to disagree.
It is time that we should move forward on the land bill issue, incorporating suggestions from all sides. We should move positively on this issue.
— Narendra Modi, Prime Minister, India
The party decided to stay adamant on its stand against the Land Bill and the government’s amendments being non-agreeable to the opposition.
Besides Vyapam and LalitGate
SP leader Ramgopal Yadav recalled that both the Houses sat for extra hours in the previous sessions to make up for the time lost on account of disruptions.
He also called for a stringent law against food adulteration resulting in serious diseases like cancer and the increasing influence of ISIS.
Sanjay Rout of Shiv Sena expressed concerns over the events along the Indo-Pak border and said, the nation will not forgive those who will not allow a discussion on it by disrupting the functioning of Parliament.
K Kesava Rao of TRS sought detailed debates on all issues but appeared in disagreement with the manner of raising it as suggested by Azad.
(With inputs from PTI)
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