Citing COVID-19, 3 TMC MPs not to attend Parliament session

At least three Rajya Sabha MPs from the Trinamool Congress will not be attending Parliament proceedings from Thursday, as they want to remain in self-quarantine for the remaining part of the ongoing Budget Session citing "unprecedented alarming situation" due to COVID-19.

Sources said Trinamool Chief Whip Sukhendu Shekhar Roy, Manish Gupta and Manas Ranjan Bhunia would not be attending the proceedings for the rest of the Session.

In a letter to Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu, Roy is learnt to have said that it was advisable that one should avoid large gatherings and the Ministry of Personnel have issued an advisory of Do's and Don'ts.

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Roy has said that he has decided to "remain in self-quarantine at home" due to "such unprecedented and alarming situation, which is fast deteriorating". The Trinamool MPs wore masks to Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

The Trinamool MPs' decision came against the backdrop of rising demand for curtailing the ongoing Parliament session.

While demand was made in Rajya Sabha, Congress' senior Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor tweeted, "ironic that MPs, who must exhort their constituents to take necessary precautions against COVID-19, continue to congregate in Parliament, where they sit cheek-by-jowl on narrow benches. Far from 'practice what you preach', MPs' message is: do as I say, not as I do!"

Trinamool's Rajya Sabha leader Derek O'Brien said they were eager that the Parliament to function but one could consider deferring it by 10 days.

"Has any panic being created by stopping Bengal Assembly. This is not a 56-inch Test Match. We are suggesting that the session should be deferred. We can reconvene ten days later. Don't look at the weather in Madhya Pradesh," O'Brien said in an apparent reference to claims that BJP was continuing with the Session with the political situation in Madhya Pradesh in mind.

BJP's plea is before Supreme Court demanding an immediate floor test in Madhya Pradesh where a section of MLAs have deserted the Congress, putting the fate of Kamal Nath government in question. The Assembly session, which started on March 16, was adjourned till March 26 citing the COVID-19 situation.

O'Brien said Trinamool supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has sent a detailed advisory to Sudip Bandhopadhyay, the Trinamool leader in Lok Sabha, and himself that they should not put MPs under any risk and ask them to return if they are not well.

On the COVID-19 situation, he said they did not have a problem with Prime Minister Narendra Modi doing a video conference with SAARC leaders but wanted to know why he was not holding a similar meeting with Chief Ministers.

"You have given SAARC ten million dollars. Where are the funds for Bengal? Bengal has to set up a corpus fund. We believe this is not the time to do politics. We need to stand shoulder to shoulder and try to win this battle together. At present, we are testing just five people per one million population while in South Korea, it is over 4,000 per 10 lakh population. Our number has to go up," he said.