Amid bedlam over LAC debate, Parliament set to adjourn sine die today

New Delhi, December 22

Both Houses of Parliament are likely to adjourn sine die on Friday, six days ahead of schedule. The session, which commenced on December 7, was to conclude on December 29, subject to exigencies of business.

Covid as excuse?

The Centre suddenly agreed to curtail the session to give some credibility to its bid to use Covid to derail Bharat Jodo Yatra. Jairam Ramesh, Congress leader

Opposition parties repeatedly disrupted the House proceedings, demanding a discussion on the LAC issue. The Lok Sabha witnessed five adjournments on Thursday. This is the first time during the ongoing session that the Lok Sabha was repeatedly adjourned by disruptions created by the Opposition.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi urged members to allow the House to function smoothly, saying since the winter session would conclude on Friday, discussions need to be held in the House on various topics. He also said no detailed discussion on sensitive issues was allowed in the past when the UPA was in power. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had already issued a detailed statement on the LAC issue, he said. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said Parliament would adjourn sine die at 11.30 am tomorrow. “This was earlier demanded by the Opposition parties since there were not many Bills to be passed. But the Narendra Modi government never listens. Now it suddenly agreed to it just to give some credibility to its attempt to use Covid to defame and derail the Bharat Jodo Yatra,” he alleged.

Jairam asked whether the Modi government would make masks and sanitisers compulsory, curtail international flights and ban public gatherings too?

“The yatra will abide by science-based and medical evidence-based norms,” he said, a day after Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya wrote to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to suspend the yatra or follow Covid rules.