Parliament logjam: PM Modi will intervene ‘as and when required’, says Naidu

Prospect of an immediate end to the parliamentary logjam appeared bleak on Saturday with both the government and the Congress sticking to their guns ahead of an all-party meeting on Monday.

Squarely blaming the government for the stalemate in Parliament, Sharma, who is Deputy leader of Congress in the Rajya Sabha, said the Prime Minister has made no effort to ensure that Parliament functions efficiently.

She said yesterday’s agitators in both the Houses had suddenly become today’s champions of debate and discussion. “I never requested the British government for travel papers for Lalit Modi”, she said, barely heard over the shouts of opposition lawmakers.

Venkaiah Naidu said that the all-party meeting was convened to break the logjam, but the Congress continued to stick to its demand for the resignations.

“We are raising a very important issue with strong evidence, but the government is unwilling to take action in this regard”, she said at the meeting.

He also took a swipe at Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi’s interaction with students at FTII where he attacked the government over Gajendra Chauhan’s appointment as chairman, saying he was not keen on discussing the issue in Parliament.

An unnamed senior minister in the government told PTI, “If members go to Speaker and say that they want to come to the House, the Speaker can revoke it”.

At the CPP meeting, the Congress President is expected to make the party’s stand on these issues all the more clear and also hit out at the government on farmers’ issues. “The confusion created by the Congress is prevailing and people of India (are) being denied a meaningful parliament session“, she said. And there is clearly a strong element of vengeance in these actions against some NGOs who have been exposing the dark deeds of those in power, ‘ she said.

Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s resignation has also been sought in connection with the Vyapam recruitment scam and related deaths. “As and when required, if there’s a want Prime Minister will additionally intervene, no drawback on that account”, stated Naidu. Criticising the Opposition’s boycott, he said: “They are showing solidarity for the wrong cause”. All 11 BJP members moved amendments in joint committee of Parliament seeking to bring back key provisions of UPA’s land law including on consent clause and social impact assessment by dropping the changes brought by Modi government in December last year and subsequently revalidated by an ordinance thrice.

Jaitley, in a Facebook post on Sunday, held the Congress responsible for disrupting parliament and said “its obstructionist tendencies inflict an economic injury on the country“.