Jagdambika Pal.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: After a contentious last meeting, the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Waqf Amendment Bill 2024 had another skirmish on Saturday.
Chairman Jagdambika Pal asked the members to be prepared to undertake a five-city tour in the last week of October and the first week of November, leading to Opposition MPs to protest that "too much travel has been scheduled right around the Maharashtra and Jharkhand elections".
At Saturday's meeting, Pal announced that the members will have to tour Lucknow, Kolkata, Guwahati, Patna, and Bhubaneswar, and that the travels will take place on October 28-29 and November 4-5. Several MPs of the committee, who hail from Maharashtra and Jharkhand, said that the travels will affect their preparations for the elections.
The committee’s meetings have witnessed bitter spats in all 78 hours of meetings that have been held. Elections to the 288 seats in Maharashtra are scheduled to be held on November 20, while polls in Jharkhand will be held in two phases – on November 13 and on 20. Results will be declared on November 23.
The Parliament’s Winter Session is expected to start soon after. The committee also intends to bring the amended Bill in the Winter Session. Opposition MPs have complained that there is practically not enough time to bring out a comprehensive report.
In the last meeting, TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee was suspended for breaking a glass bottle and hurling it at the direction of Chairperson Pal.