For the second time in the history of Parliament, the Motion of Thanks to the President was adopted by the Rajya Sabha without any discussions on the floor.
“At a meeting of Opposition leaders and ministers, presided over by Rajya Sabha Chairperson M Venkaiah Naidu, it has been agreed that Motion of Thanks to the President will be adopted and interim budget be passed,” an official told DH.
It's only the second time in the history of the Parliament, the Motion of Thanks was adopted without any discussions. Such a thing happened for the first time in 2004.
In two other occasions in 1991 and 1996, the Motion of Thanks was not adopted. But in both cases then Prime Ministers Chandrasekhar and Atal Bihari Vajpayee resigned before the motion could be taken up, the official said.
The motion was taken up in the Lok Sabha last week and after two days of discussions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a 100-minute long reply on Feb 7.
On the last day of the 16th Lok Sabha, Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu presented a report on the functioning of the Upper House in the last five years when the BJP-led NDA government was in power.
Since June 2014, Rajya Sabha held 18 sessions and 329 sittings and passed 154 bills. The legislative output is 34 lesser than the 188 bills passed during 2009-2014 (UPA-2) and 97 bills lesser than the 251 Bills passed by the Rajya Sabha during 2004-09 (UPA-1).
The two UPA governments were led by Congress party and Manmohan Singh was the prime minister.
Naidu said since 2014 the Upper House could make use of only 60% of the time available and lost the remaining time on account of disruptions. Of the total 18 Sessions over the last five years, the Chairman noted that the productivity of the House has been below the five year average of 60% in respect of eight Sessions.
While Narendra Modi-led BJP enjoys a brute majority in the Lok Sabha, the government is in the minority in the Rajya Sabha where the Opposition members enjoy the upper hand. This led to several frictions and disruptions on the floor, leading to repeated adjournments.