Deadlock is over, Houses will function
The week-long impasse which paralysed Parliament all of last week ended on Monday morning at a breakfast meeting hosted by finance minister and Leader of the Lok Sabha Pranab Mukherjee, where the Opposition agreed to give up its demand for a discussion with voting on the issue of rising prices. It was agreed that resolutions would be passed in both Houses after discussion expressing the concern of all sides on the issue.
Accordingly, the Lok Sabha will discuss the prices issue on Tuesday, to be followed by Speaker Meira Kumar reading out a resolution expressing the “sense of the House” on the matter.
The Rajya Sabha will do likewise on Wednesday, where the resolution will be read out by its Chairman, vice-president Hamid Ansari.
The Opposition expressed some reservations on the wording of the two resolutions. “They were not using the word ‘common man’, so we objected. Now the words: ‘adverse impact of inflationary pressure on the common man’ have been included,” said Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj.
The government, however, had its way in not accepting the words “price rise” in the resolutions, arguing that this was a continuous phenomenon which was unstoppable, and instead the term “inflationary pressure” should be used. With the government and Opposition in agreement, the two Houses are expected to function normally from this week.
Those present at the breakfast meeting included the Leaders of the Opposition in both Houses, Ms Sushma Swaraj and Mr Arun Jaitley, JD(U) president and NDA convenor Sharad Yadav, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and SP leader Ramgopal Yadav, BSP leader S.C. Mishra, AIADMK leader M. Thambidurai, the CPI(M)’s Sitaram Yechury and Basudev Achariya and the CPI’s Gurudas Dasgupta.
From the UPA side, home minister P. Chidambaram, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, DMK leader T.R. Balu, parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, his deputy Prithviraj Chavan and Mr V. Narayansamy.
The final draft agreed by all parties read: “This House expresses concern over inflationary pressure in the economy and calls upon the government to take further action in order to contain its adverse impact on the common man.”
The government appears to have won this round, and sources said that for the first time a discussion would be held under Rule 342, under which the Leader of the Opposition initiates the discussion, followed by the reading of the resolution giving a “sense of the House” by the Chair.
“The government suggested that the term ‘urge’ be changed to ‘call upon the government’, and we agreed,” said Ms Swaraj.
While the Opposition’s demand for voting under Rule 184 in the Lok Sabha and Rule 168 in the Rajya Sabha was not accepted by the government, the Opposition countered that they had not allowed the government to get away with a discussion under Rule 193, which does not entail voting. Privately, however, some Opposition leaders acknowledged that it could hardly be called a victory.
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