Govt’s fresh bid to end Parliament deadlock, all-party meet on Monday

In what could be termed as a setback to the Congress, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Monday said he won’t support the party if it doesn’t stops agitating in the Parliament.

In the past too, the Samajwadis had used the demand for release of caste census to stand with the Congress in the well of the House and protest.

In Rajya Sabha, BJD member Anubhav Mohanty objected to the disruptions strongly saying these had prevented him from raising of issues concerning people of his home state Odisha.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reluctance to attend Parliament’s business advisory meetings has led to other parties, more so the Congress party in whittling down its own seniority of participation.

“We must try to pass GST in any way possible”, he said.

Rudy said the Prime Minister felt the House was being stalled to thwart the country’s growth. Congress MPs moved towards the RJD MP on a signal from the party benches shouting “shame, shame”, a tactic the party has still recently reserved for ministers and MPs from the ruling coalition.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitely introduced the legislation in the upper house of Parliament with just two days left in Parliament’s current three-week session.

Party leaders have thrown the ball in the government’s court on the issue of smooth functioning of Parliament contending that if it was interested in its running, then it will reach out to the opposition.

Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member Derek O’Brien said his party is “wholeheartedly supporting” the GST bill.

Speaker also had a meeting with opposition leaders in her chamber where Mulayam said a discussion in the House was necessary to at least understand what the Congress was protesting about. Supporters say it will add up to two percentage points to economic growth.

The Congress is demanding the resignations of Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje for their alleged help to Lalit Modi, and of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan over the Vyapam scam.

On Monday, speaker Sumitra Mahajan suspended 25 Congress MPs for Misbehaviour inside Parliament.

[ August 11, 2015 13:05:00 ].