At the same time, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu singled out Congress for the attack, wondering as to under whose pressure it was working and warned that such attempts to obstruct proceedings would “boomerang”.
Naidu’s appeal came close on the heels of members from Congress, Left parties, IUML, BSP and AAP staging a walkout soon after Modi’s statement leaving only members of AIADMK, BJD and one or two small parties in the House.
“What the Congress is doing … Under whose pressure, under whose insistence is the Congress doing such things,” Naidu said, hitting out at the opposition party for alleging that the Speaker was working under pressure.
Taking a dig at Congress for harping on the Sadhvi issue, he recalled instances of leaders of Congress like Beni Prasad Verma and Mani Shankar Aiyer and Tapas Pal of Trinamool Congress for making controversial remarks and said “no one is continuing protests” on them.
Naidu said Congress and “its friends must come back to the House and join the debate. This attitude will not help but will boomerang. People are the ultimate judges.”
He said important bills were slated to be passed and wished that the protesting opposition parties were in the House and “realise the importance of Parliament”.
“Their attitude is hurting the interests of the people, they should keep that in mind,” he said.
PTI