Rajya Sabha stalemate: Joint Opposition rejects govt proposal to meet 4 parties on Monday

Tribune News Service

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New Delhi, December 19

Joint opposition on Sunday rejected a government invitation to discuss the ongoing Rajya Sabha stalemate with leaders of four parties whose MPs have been suspended and said the government, if sincere about breaking the logjam, would have invited the entire opposition and not a few parties.

Responding to a letter by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi for a meeting at 10 am on Monday, Leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said the invitation should have gone to all opposition parties which were united in their demand to seek the revocation of suspension of 12 members.

“I have received your letter of December 19, 7.10 pm; asking leaders of the four parties whose members in the Rajya Sabha have been suspended to a meeting to be taken by Piyush Goyal and you at 10 am tomorrow morning.  All Opposition parties are united in the protest against the suspension of the 12 MPs.  We have been requesting from the evening of November 29 itself that either the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha or the Leader of the House Shri Piyush Goyal should call leaders of all Opposition parties for a discussion to break the stalemate.  This reasonable request of ours has not been agreed to, further inviting only leaders of four Opposition parties instead of inviting leaders of all Opposition parties is unfair and unfortunate,” Kharge wrote to Joshi.

CPM’s Elamaram Karim also wrote a similar letter to Joshi declining the Monday invite and terming select invitations unfortunate.

Congress chief whip in RS Jairam Ramesh later said the “government did not want the House to run and wanted to escape discussions on the demand for the resignation of junior home minister Ajay Mishra after the SIT in Lakhimpur Kheri case indicted his son for killing farmers”.

TMC leader Derek O’Brien also tweeted, “A Monday morning stunt by a government that did not want the Rajya Sabha to function…Government has called leaders of four opposition parties whose 12 MPs have been arbitrarily suspended. Government has left ten other opposition parties out of the invitation. This is a failed stunt. The opposition is clear – first revoke arbitrary suspensions.”

Suspended MPs belong to the Congress, TMC, Shiv Sena and CPM and government invitation for a meeting was also sent to these four parties.

Leaders of the four parties said they would not attend the government meeting.

RS has witnessed serial disruptions since the MPs were suspended on November 29, the first day of the winter session which is scheduled to end on December 23.