Monsoon session nearing end, but no breakthrough on Manipur

Shubhadeep Choudhury

New Delhi, August 9

The monsoon session of Parliament is nearing its end, but the logjam in the Rajya Sabha over the rule under which the Manipur issue should be discussed still continues.

Rule 267 a problem

The insistence by the Opposition that issue should be discussed under a certain rule (Rule 267) only was creating problem.

Piyush Goyal, leader of house in RS

The first adjournment in the Rajya Sabha today took place when Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar got irked after AAP MP Sushil Gupta turned up in the House wearing a garland of tomatoes.

It’s oppn’s demand

I urge the Chairman to list a discussion on Manipur under Rule 267… the notice has been given by all opposition parties.

-Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of oppn in RS

This part of the sitting also saw the Leader of the Opposition, Mallikarjun Kharge, raising the issue of police action against Mahatma Gandhi’s great grandson Tushar Gandhi in the morning in Mumbai when he was on his way to attend an event to commemorate the anniversary of the Quit India movement.

Multiple adjournment followed and these were all on account of disagreement between the treasury benches and the Opposition on the rule under which the Manipur issue should be discussed and the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s absence in the House.

After multiple adjournment, the Opposition finally walked out. Kharge said we walked out to protest PM Narendra Modi’s unwillingness to make a statement in the House on Manipur and the government’s stand to not discuss it under Rule 267.

Piyush Goyal, Leader of the House, said insistence by the Opposition that issue should be discussed under a certain rule only was creating problem.