Congress: Reserve one day in week for Opposition to speak in new Parliament

New Delhi, September 18

Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Monday urged Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to reserve one day a week for the Opposition in the new Parliament so that non-BJP MPs could say what they wanted and reiterated the party’s demand for the women’s quota Bill.

MPs in Rajya Sabha seek more sittings

The final day of Rajya Sabha in old Parliament ended with the culmination of discussion on 75 years of journey of Parliament an hour before the allotted time. A common demand from many MPs was for Women’s Reservation Bill and more sittings of Parliament

Speaking on “Parliamentary journey of 75 years starting from Samvidhan Sabha debates”, the agenda listed for discussion on the last working day of the current Parliament, Chowdhury said the Congress fear around abrogation of Article 370 had been proved right.

The Congress MP’s reference was to the deaths of four armed forces and security personnel in the Valley.

Condemn ’84 riots: SAD

SAD MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal demanded that Parliament unanimously condemn the 1984 genocide and called for dedicating the old building to Guru Tegh Bahadur

With Congress parliamentary party chief Sonia Gandhi sitting beside him and Rahul Gandhi behind, Chowdhury questioned the recent decision of the Chair to expunge Rahul’s anti-PM remarks in the Adani matter and said, “There are fears regarding the establishment of one-party dictatorship leading to the sidelining of the Opposition. The use of central agencies against the Opposition is also a concern. We urge you (Speaker) to reserve a day every week for the Opposition to say what it wants.”

Adhir hailed first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru as the architect of modern India, BR Ambedkar, late PM Rajiv Gandhi for the IT revolution and former Congress president Sonia Gandhi for the Food Security Act, Right to Information Act and MGNREGA.