Monsoon session: Rajya Sabha Chairman Dhankhar holds meeting with Opposition leaders to end deadlock in House

New Delhi [India]: Amid the disruptions in the Rajya Sabha over the Manipur issue and the Opposition’s demand for the statement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Parliament, Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday held a meeting with leaders of all Opposition parties to discuss the proceedings of the House to be held next week.

Union Minister Piyush Goyal, after the meeting, while addressing a press conference said that the Chairman has suggested that this logjam should be ended through proper discussion.

“The chairman emphasised that the Parliament should function properly through dialogue, debate and discussion. It is a forum to discuss public issues…He suggested that this logjam should be ended through proper discussion. Everyone should participate for the proper functioning of the Parliament…,” Goyal said.

The meeting was an attempt at reaching out to the opposition in a bid to bring normalcy to the House and allow it to function.

Chairman Dhakhar has asked all the leaders to convey the chairman’s message to their top leadership and take a rational decision in two or three days.

“Chairman was very upset and emotional about the way one member behaved in the House during the proceeding,” Goyal added.

Amarendra Dhari Singh, an MP from Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) who attended the meeting, told media, “We had the meeting with the Chairman, and its a long discussion meeting and he heard all of us and he appealed with due respect to all the members for smooth functioning of the House.”

“The Chairman further said that personally, ‘I feel that a lot of time is already wasted of the House and it’s not good for democracy so both—government and the Opposition should reconsider the decision,” Singh said.

During the meeting, both sides discussed a wide range of issues and also talked about co-operation for the smooth functioning of the House.

“There was no argument but the INDIA alliance side very much clear that we want resumption of House and the Chairman said that there should not be any condition put forward by the Opposition,” A D Singh told media.

Several parties including Congress, RJD, BJD, AAP and Union Minister Piyush Goyal attended the meeting today with Chairman Dhankhar in the parliament.

Notably, the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned for the day on Friday, amid continued slogan-shouting from the Opposition benches over the demand for a discussion on the Manipur situation.

Upon the resumption of the session on Friday, Opposition members in the Lok Sabha demanded an immediate discussion on the no-confidence motion, which was moved by Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi and accepted by Speaker Om Birla.

The Speaker called for Question Hour as the Lower House reconvened but the Opposition members kept disrupting proceedings demanding a discussion on Manipur and the motion of no confidence.

While in session, the Upper House which was also adjourned till Monday recalled the contribution of Vinay Dinu Tendulkar, who retired on Friday.