No breakthrough at Speaker's all-party meeting to break Parliament logjam

Efforts to break the logjam in Parliament did not fructify as the Opposition on Tuesday rejected the government's overtures that it could drop its demand for an apology from Rahul Gandhi in return for not raising Adani Group issue, sources said.

The Opposition made it clear that the demand for setting up a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on Adani affair was non-negotiable by not attending two meetings called by Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar within a span of three hours, saying there was no point in the meeting with the government “disrupting” the proceedings.

Sources said Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla told parties during a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) that both the sides should "keep aside" the "two contentious issues" on which the Parliament is facing disruptions.

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The government side indicated that they were ready to even pipe down on their protest on Rahul but wanted the Opposition to reciprocate, sources said.

However, Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said they would continue to raise Adani issue and demanded that Rahul be allowed to respond to allegations levelled against him for his 'democracy in danger' remarks.

With the logjam persisting, sources said, the government is likely to “guillotine” the Demands for Grants and pass the Budget without a discussion on March 23.

A senior Opposition leader told DH that they could not have agreed to the proposal of keeping quiet on Adani issue, as the government was not willing to even allow Rahul to speak. Sources said government managers had approached the Opposition with this proposal on Monday evening but the Opposition had reservations about it.

Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha Piyush Goyal told reporters that the Opposition was willfully stalling Parliament with its "irresponsible" comments and "unfounded" allegations to mislead the country amid global recognition of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership.

Ratcheting up pressure, the entire Opposition did not attend floor leaders' meeting called by Dhankhar to break the logjam and ensure smooth functioning of Parliament at 11:30 AM, prompting him to say that it was “unwholesome and inappropriate”.

Opposition leaders, including those from DMK, BRS and AAP, said the government through its action has made it clear that they don't intend to run the House by setting up a JPC and there was no meaning to any such a meeting.

Dhankhar had called Kharge to speak in the House but a sloganeering BJP MPs disrupted the House demanding apology from Rahul Gandhi for his 'democracy in danger' remarks in London, prompting Dhankhar to adjourn the House but only after announcing that he was calling floor leaders for a meeting.

After the meeting, Dhankhar tweeted that only BJP, YSR Congress and TDP attended the meeting. He said Congress Chief Whip and DMK floor leader Tiruchi Siva met him before the meeting and conveyed that the Opposition would not be attending the meeting.

The “Chairman indicated to these two leaders that this will be unwholesome and inappropriate and his feelings be conveyed to the leaders. In spite of this, there was absence of leaders from INC, AITC, DMK, AAP, BJD, RJD, CPI (M), JD(U), AIADMK, NCP, SP, SS, CPI, TRS, AGP and others except BJP, YSRCP and TDP”, Dhankhar’s office tweeted.

Dhankhar called a second meeting at 2:30 PM, which also saw scant attendance from the Opposition side. Sources said the parties decided that only a few of them would attend, as they did not want to show disrespect to the Chairman. While Congress and AAP among others did not attend the second meeting, NCP, DMK, Trinamool and BRS attended it.

Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said, "why is the Government stalling discussions in the Parliament? Is it not the responsibility of the Government to run the house and address issues of national interest? If there is ‘Saaf Niyat, Sahi Vikas’, why run away from debate, Prime Minister Saab?"

Congress Rajya Sabha Chief Whip Jairam Ramesh tweeted, "This morning...Kharge-ji was given permission by the Chairman to speak. He got up to do so but was not allowed by sloganeering BJP MPs. Chairman then adjourned RS. How can the logjam be broken if the Modi government behaves like this."

A senior Opposition floor manager told DH that the BJP was not realising that their protest against Rahul is only making the Congress leader more popular and helping the Opposition raise the Adani issue in a much stronger manner.