New Delhi : As Parliament proceedings washed out for the fourth day in a row, the government and the Opposition parties are holding talks to find a way out to break the impasse.
According to sources, Parliament will start functioning smoothly from Monday if both the sides reach a consensus over the Opposition’s request of holding a two-day discussion on the Constitution.
While the government proposes that the bills on banking laws and Railway Act should be taken up for debate and passage first, Congress wants the discussion on the Constitution to be taken up before that.
However, Opposition parties said they are hopeful that the government will accede to their demand.
According to sources, Congress MP KC Venugopal and chief whip in the Lok Sabha Kodikunnil Suresh met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla in his chamber and held talks on the matter. BJP’s leader of the Upper House, JP Nadda, was also present in the meeting.
Sources said that during the meeting of Rajya Sabha’s business advisory committee (BAC) this week, Nadda has agreed to consider the Congress’ request of holding a two-day discussion on the Constitution.
Early this week, Leaders of Opposition in both Houses — Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge — wrote to Birla and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar requesting a two-day debate on Constitution to mark the 75th year of its adoption.
Separately, Congress Lok Sabha deputy leader Gaurav Gogoi, K Suresh and whip Manickam Tagore also met the Speaker and raised the demand for a two-day discussion.
“We have also seen that on the 125th birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar, debates happened for 13 hours, on two days. On the 75th anniversary of ‘Bharat Chhodo Andolan’ (Quit India) too, debates happened,” said Tagore.
Notably, there is disquiet among the INDIA bloc partners and even in the Congress camp about the grand old party’s strategy of stalling Parliament over the Adani issue.
While TMC has openly expressed its displeasure, some alliance partners such as DMK are also not on the same page with Congress.
A Congress leader told this newspaper that many leaders in the party do not agree with disrupting the House continuously on a single issue.
