AGENCY
New Delhi: As the Winter session entered its third week today, Parliament remained deadlocked and stalled due to stand-off between the Opposition and the government over demonetisation and how the debate should be held on it.
For the 13th consecutive day, both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha failed to transact any business due to the uproar created by the Opposition over demonetisation, even as the government expressed readiness to discuss the issue and listen to the views of members regarding “deficiencies” in its implementation so that these can be corrected.
The Lok Sabha could not function because of differences over the Rule under which a debate should be held while the Rajya Sabha was paralysed due to uproar by Opposition over cash crunch due to demonetisation.
In the Lok Sabha, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the government is ready for a debate but it should be left to Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to take a decision regarding the Rule under which the debate should be undertaken.
Singh, who spoke after Mallikarjun Kharge (Cong), Sudip Bandhyopadhyay (Trinamool Congress), Mulayam Singh Yadav (SP), Jithender Reddy (TRS) and Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav (RJD), said it was clear that nobody was questioning the intent of the government over demonetisation even though some felt it was not done in a proper way.
He also said the Opposition was divided as parties like TRS and BJD wanted debate under Rule 193 which does not entail voting instead of Rule 184 which entails voting as demanded by parties like Congress, Trinamool Congress and Left.
Congress and Trinamool, however, maintained its demand that a debate should be held under Rule 184.
An attempt was made to take up the debate under Rule 193, with TRS leader A P Jithender Reddy being called to initiate the discussion.As Opposition members protested the move, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said for the past two weeks all members have been seeking a debate on the issue of note ban.
He said while the opposition has been demanding a vote on the debate, it should be held under Rule 193.As Reddy rose to speak, Trinamool Congress members surrounded him and created a lot of noise by resorting to shouting, including using the TRS leader’s microphone.
Meanwhile, Congress members were in the Well of the House, shouting slogans.Reddy, who has been favouring a debate under Rule 193, spoke briefly but nothing could be heard in the din.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar also said something which could not be heard.As chaos prevailed, the House was adjourned for the day at around 2.10 pm.
After the proceedings ended, Trinamool Congress members, who were surrounding Reddy, were seen shaking hands with him.Later, Reddy went up to Rajnath Singh and the two were seen chatting, with the Home Minister patting him.Earlier also, the House was stalled due to chaos because of divergence of positions over mechanism for voting.
