Opposition parties force adjournments in Rajya Sabha, BJP leaders discuss strategy for smooth functioning of House
Jul 19, 2021
New Delhi [India], July 19 : BJP leaders including Leader of House in Rajya Sabha Piyush Goyal, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi and party's chief whip in upper House Shiv Pratap Shukla met here on Monday to discuss "floor management" in view of the opposition forcing adjournments of the upper House on the first day of monsoon session of parliament.
Home Minister Amit Shah was also present in the meeting, sources said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be present at a meeting on Tuesday evening with the floor leaders of both Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha. The meeting is regarding COVID vaccine status.
Rajya Sabha witnessed three adjournments, on the first day of the monsoon session on Monday before it was adjourned for the day. Lok Sabha also saw two adjournments before it adjourned for the day.
Goyal, who earlier interacted with the media, condemned the manner in which Opposition MPs behaved in the House.
"We saw a very unfortunate situation, both in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. In Rajya Sabha, the address of the Chairman was interrupted too," said Goyal.
He noted that the old tradition of the Prime Minister introducing the new ministers to the rest of the MPs in the Parliament after a new Cabinet was formed or there was a reshuffle, was broken today for the first time because the Opposition MPs interrupted PM Modi.
"They could not see that such a large number of people from the backward community of the society have been inducted into the cabinet by the Prime Minister. For the first time, we saw such a large number of women, tribals, people from the northeast becoming a part of the union cabinet," he said.
Calling the interruption of the "democratic process" of the introduction of MPs as 'unfortunate', Goyal said, "It's an insult to democracy and people of India."
The Opposition is seeking to corner the BJP-led NDA government on a range of issues including farmers' protests against three farm laws, price rise, increasing cost of diesel and petrol and issues related to tackling the COVID-19 pandemic.
