Opposition punctures Venkaiah’s talk of ‘bonhomie’

Even as the Opposition proposed amendments to the crucial Aadhaar Bill, 2016 on Wednesday, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu spoke of a “camaraderie” between the Opposition and Treasury Benches which had helped this Budget Session become the “most significant and rewarding” of all Parliament sessions since the BJP assumed office.

Before Naidu was summoned to the Rajya Sabha where lobbies had already been cleared for division on the amendments forced by the Opposition, he celebrated the “spirit of camaraderie” and “bonhomie” in the Upper House.

“Of all the sessions since May 2014, this has been the most significant and rewarding on several counts. We witnessed rare bonhomie, with both sides giving credit to each other for introducing and piloting the Real Estate Bill. The spirit of camaraderie in the Upper House demonstrated our ability to work collectively. Additionally, the House witnessed productive debates on almost all contemporary issues of public importance,” said Naidu.

Wednesday was the last day of the Budget Session before the House goes into recess. After the washout of the Winter Session, the Minister was visibly pleased with the passage of the Real Estate Regulation Bill, Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, the Carriage by Air Bill and the bill regarding anomalies in the salaries and allowances of judges, all of which he described as “key takeaways” of this session.

He said he was surprised by the criticism, especially in the light of amendments being forced into the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address, against his Ministry for not “managing” Parliament well.

“What is this ‘management’ people are talking about? The Prime Minister has held meetings with the Opposition; the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha Speaker held similar meetings; and I, myself, have been reaching out to the Opposition every day. What else are we supposed to do? We don’t do JMM style (a reference to the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha scandal pertaining to the Congress bribing JMM MPs to win a trust vote) management. If party positions dictate certain stands, how can the government change it?” the Minister wondered.

Naidu suggested that it was, in fact, the Congress which had “embarrassed itself” by the amendment to the Motion of Thanks. The amendment pertained to minimum education qualifications for aspirants in local bodies and panchayat polls. Naidu accused the Congress of being responsible for illiteracy in the country.

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