Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla met top government and opposition leaders on Monday as efforts to break a logjam that has paralyzed the lower house since last week gained momentum, even as some Congress MPs indicated they were considering moving a no-confidence motion against him.
Opposition leaders said 103 MPs have signed the notice. Any no-confidence motion against the Speaker requires at least 100 signatures. (Parliament TV)After a sudden adjournment the day before the incident when Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi tried to speak for a few minutes – the Lok Sabha may finally begin debating the Union Budget.
Rahul GandhiTrinamool Congress’ Abhishek Banerjee, Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s TR Balu, among others, met Birla soon after the Lok Sabha adjourned for the day, to find a solution and end the deadlock. A few hours later, Birla also met Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
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According to a key Lok Sabha official, the opposition’s talks with Birla were aimed at restoring normalcy and giving Gandhi a chance to address the House – a key demand of the opposition. Some leaders urged Birla to withdraw the suspension of eight MPs last week. The Lok Sabha official added that Birla mentioned that the opposition has the right to move a no-confidence motion against him.
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According to three opposition leaders, the idea of moving a no-confidence motion against Birla was discussed in a meeting of floor leaders of the opposition on Monday morning and Congress leader KC Venugopal hatched the plan.
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“In the meeting, Venugopal argued that a no-confidence motion could be moved on three grounds. LOP is not allowed to speak when Congress women MPs are falsely accused of planning to attack the Prime Minister. Also, opposition MPs are not allowed to speak but BJP MPs are allowed to make defamatory statements,” said Congress leader Nehruhara, like Congress leader Neruhara. Request anonymity
If the motion is brought, the Samajwadi Party and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) are likely to support it, but the third-largest party in Parliament, the Trinamool Congress, has not made its stand known.
Opposition leaders said 103 MPs have signed the notice. Any no-confidence motion against the Speaker requires at least 100 signatures.
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“Speaker is complaining against Congress women MPs, but there is no place for opposition in this House and they are not allowed to speak. Such attitude has never happened before. Wait for action,” Venugopal said.
Lok Sabha officials declined to comment and noted that no such notice had been received.
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju hit back. “It doesn’t matter. They can bring speed, but they don’t have the numbers. They have insulted the Speaker’s institution and gone up on the officials’ table. We could have asked the Speaker to take action. I am not asking the Speaker to take any special action,” he said.
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Congress MP Shashi Tharoor He said that there was no discussion on the matter with him. “All I know is that there is a motive, but there is a method, and there is no news until such a case is filed. All I can say is that some people are discussing this,” he said.
SP MP Dimple Yadav said, “Whatever the senior leaders of the Indian bloc decide, the opposition will stick to it. Ruling party leaders’ comments are never dismissed, opposition leaders are always miked.”
After a week of disruption, the stage was set for the budget debate in the Lok Sabha on Monday. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was present to participate in the debate which started at 12 noon.
Tharoor was ready to start the debate but gave way to Gandhi. BJP MP Sandhya Roy, who was presiding over the House, wanted to know if Gandhi was speaking on the budget.
“An hour ago, I met the Speaker and the Speaker promised us that I will be allowed to speak here and raise some points, now you are going back on your words. Am I allowed to speak or not?” Gandhi asked.
Rijiju stood up and said, Gandhi a Can’t speak. “If you speak, other members will also speak and the government will respond.”
Roy insisted that he had no notice to raise matters other than the budget and the House adjourned.
Later, Rijiju said, “I promised the Congress party before the Speaker that if the Congress agrees to let the House run normally, we will let the Congress and other parties talk about running the House. I cannot agree to a situation where Rahul Gandhi talks and complains, fusses and doesn’t let others speak. If the Congress allows other members to talk, then we will also talk.”
After the meeting with Birla, TMC criticized the government.
“It is the government’s responsibility to run the House and we want the House to run. But the opposition should also be allowed to speak. We have appealed to the competent authority – the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, and we hope that the House will run… There was no discussion (on the no-confidence motion) and we have appealed to the Speaker to reconsider his decision of suspension.”
The standoff began last week after Gandhi raised excerpts from an unpublished book by former army chief General (retd) MM Naravane on India-China relations. The Prime Minister was not allowed to reply in the Lok Sabha for the first time in 22 years on the debate over the President’s speech, which was passed by voice vote last Thursday.
On that day, Birlao alleged that he had credible information that many Congress MPs “reached the Prime Minister’s seat and did some unexpected things” when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was scheduled to speak on Wednesday – and ultimately did not.
The opposition has denied the allegations but a Lok Sabha official noted that the atmosphere in the chamber worsened sharply ever since proceedings began, raising serious concerns about security, decorum and the dignity of parliamentary functioning.
“Amidst this chaos, several women MPs aggressively marched towards the Prime Minister’s seat, forming a virtual cordon around it. Disturbingly, some women MPs moved to the Treasury benches carrying more banners and placards, openly adopting confrontational postures.
Subsequently, the opposition members went to the Speaker’s Chamber, where they “let’s see what the Prime Minister can do.” Such behavior was completely uncalled for by MPs and further accentuated the instability of the situation prevailing that day,” the official added.
The Lok Sabha official added that in view of these incidents, the Speaker had “genuine and well-founded concerns” about the Prime Minister’s safety and his advice to Modi not to enter the Lok Sabha was “solely guided by the need to ensure the proper conduct of parliamentary business and preserve the dignity and sanctity of the institution.”
With just four days left in the first half of the session, the Lok Sabha is looking at a tough schedule to end debates and pass the budget, which is a constitutional requirement. Also, after it is passed in the Lok Sabha, Sitharaman will have to respond to the debate in the Rajya Sabha, which will send the budget back to the lower house.
Surprised at the decision to adjourn the House till Tuesday, an Opposition Leader told HT, “The Chair could have adjourned it for half an hour to sort out the issues. Everyone in the House wanted a debate.”
