Meeting fails to end Parliament logjam, government indicates all-party meet
New Delhi: An all-party meeting convened by the Lok Sabha Speaker on Thursday failed to break the Parliamentary deadlock but government indicated it was ready convene an all-party meeting in a bid to end the logjam.
The indication came after the Opposition threw the ball in the government's court saying it was for it to take initiative and the logjam would continue till then. Under opposition attack, Home Minister Rajnath Singh indicated that the government was open to calling an all-party meet to break the impasse.
Leader of the Congress Mallikarjun Kharge accused the government of not reaching out to the Opposition and TMC leader Sudip Bandhyopadhyay charged it with harbouring a "very undemocratic" attitude.
"The role and performance of the government is very democratic in nature. Why Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not opened his mouth," Bandhyopadhyay said initiating the opposition attack.
He also made it clear that it was unrealistic to expect that no one will go to the Well of the House. "It cannot happen, it will never happen."
Speaker Sumitra Mahajan told reporters after the meeting that she wanted a consensus against "undignified" modes of protests like members raising placards in the House or rushing into the Well and claimed that most parties agreed with her views.
"I am always optimistic. It is a positive beginning," she said when asked if such protests would stop now. Making it clear that there would be no let-up in the Opposition protests, Kharge said it was the government's responsibility to run the House and assailed the treasury benches for the not reaching out to them even once since the monsoon session began on July 21.
Taking a swipe at the ruling BJP leaders, he said the Opposition was following the traditions set up by the likes of L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley who had termed disruptions of Parliament "a legitimate tactic" to pressure the government when the saffron party was in the opposition.
Rajnath Singh's remarks that BJP members had not used placards when it was in opposition was strongly contested by the opposition members. Opposition sources said Singh "welcomed" their suggestion for an all-party meeting.
The Opposition has been seeking resignations of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan chief ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Vasundhara Raje which has paralysed Parliament for two weeks with the government rejecting their demand.
