Minister Invites Leaders Of Five Opposition Parties For Meet, Oppn demands invitation for all
New Delhi: Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi had invited five opposition parties whose MPs have been suspended from the House, but was told that the government should talk to all opposition parties to break the stalemate.
Joshi, in an invitation sent to five opposition parties – Congress, Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and Communist Party of India (CPI), on Sunday evening called them for talks over the suspension of 12 MPs.
Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge, in a letter late on Sunday night, said leaders of all opposition parties should be called for talks.
“All Opposition parties are united in the protest against the suspension of the 12 MPs. We have been requesting from the evening of November 29th itself that either the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha or the Leader of the House, 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,” he said.
“Only inviting leaders from a few parties, instead of from all Opposition parties, is unfair and unfortunate,” he said.
CPI(M) leader and one of the suspended MPs, E Kareem said in his reply that the talks were “delayed”, coming after three weeks of suspension, and added that entire Opposition was united on the issue and had together requested government to hold such talks.
In a similar reply, Binoy Viswam of CPI said the government was trying to divide the Opposition.
TMC leader Derek O’Brien, in a Tweet on Sunday evening, had called it a “failed stunt”
“Monday morning STUNT from a government who does not want Parliament to function. Government calls leaders of the 5 opposition parties whose 12 Rajya Sabha MPs have been arbitrarily suspended. Government leaves the other 10 Oppn parties out. Failed stunt,” O’Brien said.
A ruckus was witnessed in Rajya Sabha on the last day of Monsoon Session, after hours of peaceful debate on the OBC Bill, when the government brought the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill on August 11. Opposition members protested against the Bill being brought without being listed ahead, and Marshals were called in.
The 12 MPs who have been suspended are, Elamaram Kareem, CPI (M), Phulo Devi Netam (INC), Chhaya Verma (INC), Ripun Bora (INC), Binoy Viswam (CPI), Rajmani Patel (INC), Dola Sen (TMC), Shanta Chhetri (TMC), Syed Nasir Hussain (INC), Priyanka Chaturvedi (Shiv Sena), Anil Desai (Shiv Sena) and Akhilesh Prasad Singh (INC).
The MPs were suspended for the whole duration of the Winter Session of Parliament. They have been sitting on a protest in the Parliament House since their suspension.
