INDIA parties firm on demand for Home Minister's statement on Parliament security breach, says Congress

New Delhi [India], December 15 : The Congress on Friday said that INDIA bloc parties will keep pressing on their demand for a statement from Home Minister Amit Shah on the security breach in Parliament, saying that till the time this happens, there is little chance of the normal functioning of two Houses of Parliament.
Addressing a press conference here, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh accused the Home Minister of "contempt of parliament" and said he had spoken on the issue to a television channel but was "unwilling" to speak in the two Houses of Parliament.
He alleged that the government was trying to brush aside the incident of security breach in Lok Sabha on December 13 as "small and minor one" and has invoked the stringent UAPA charges against the accused.
"The very fact that such a stringent act has been invoked makes it incumbent upon the Home Minister to make a statement in both the houses of the parliament as the matter is very serious," Jairam Thakur said.
He said this is the collective stand of the Indian National Democratic Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) partners that the Home Minister should come to both the houses of the parliament make a statement and take questions on the issue.
Jairam Ramesh said government is responsible for the stalemate in Parliament.
He alleged that the government and the Home Minister want to distract attention from the questions that India block parties are raising on the role of BJP MP from Mysuru, on whose recommendation the passes were issued to those responsible for December 13 incident.
Expressing hope that the Home Minister will make a statement on Monday, when the House meets next, he pointed out that these are practically the last few working days of the current Lok Sabha as the next session will be quite brief ahead of the general elections.
The floor leaders of the INDIA partners today met in the morning and the next meeting of the floor leaders will be held on Monday morning.
The next meeting of the INDIA leaders is scheduled on December 19 at 3 pm in the national capital.
A day after the parliament security breach, 13 MPs opposition MPs were suspended from the two Houses on Thursday "for creating a ruckus" in the House.
Earlier, 14 MPs were suspended, but Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi later clarified that one member was mistakenly included in the list of MPs suspended.
Jairam Ramesh said that their first demand was a statement from the Home Minister in the two Houses and that a "middle path" should be found with the government keen on pushing its legislative agenda.