An all-party meeting on Monday failed to break the two-week-long deadlock in Parliament with both the government and the principal Opposition party refusing to back down from their stated positions on the resignation of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and BJP Chief Ministers Vasundhara Raje and Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
The government claimed the Congress was “isolated” in its quest for seeking the resignations while the latter asserted that it was, in fact, the BJPthat has painted itself into a corner. Speaking to BusinessLine, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said even constituents of the ruling NDA are supportive of the Congress.
“We have the support of 60 per cent of the House,” Azad said. Some, like the NCP, the JD(U) and the Left are openly backing the Congress while the Trinamool Congress and Biju Janata Dal have voiced anguish over continued disruption of the Houses.
At the all-party meeting, veteran leaders Sharad Pawar of the NCP and Ramgopal Yadav of the Samajwadi Party (SP) reportedly chastised the government for “vitiating” the atmosphere prior to the meeting.
“Both Pawar saheb and Ramgopal Yadav told the all-party meeting that when senior ministers of the government issue statements criticising the Opposition just ahead of an all-party meeting, it does not send the right message,” a senior Opposition leader said.
The reference was apparently to statements by Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley who had asserted that the Congress was blocking proceedings in both Houses because it had not been able to digest its defeat in the Lok Sabha elections last year.
In retaliation, the Congress too upped the ante with party President Sonia Gandhi telling MPs in a meeting on Monday morning that there would be “no productive discussions, no meaningful proceedings so long as those responsible for gross wrong-doing remain in office”.
The Opposition’s charge was that the government had convened the meeting without any substantive proposal to end the impasse. “They are behaving in a most undemocratic manner. You can’t call a meeting and tell us to resume work without addressing any of the concerns that we have raised. In a democracy, it is all give-and-take,” Azad said.
CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury too said the government had no plan to resolve the deadlock. “They did not have any suggestion and made only an appeal. The meeting was totally unproductive,” Yechury told reporters after the meeting.
The government rejected the charge with Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu claiming that save one or two parties, none supported Congress. “The broad view in the meeting was that most political parties wanted a discussion. People want Parliament to function. I hope they (Congress) understand the spirit of the all-party meeting.”
Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’ Brien said “the past has now become present”, a reference to the Congress emulating the BJP’s conduct in Opposition. Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who spoke the last in the meeting, reportedly asked why the Congress was “repeating a mistake” that the BJP had made in the past by disrupting Parliament. Singh disagreed with the Congress’ charge that BJP did not allow Parliament to function till UPA ministers had resigned, saying BJP had allowed discussions even then.