Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi on July 28 challenged the Opposition members in the Lok Sabha to defeat government Bills on the floor of the House if they believe they have the numbers to do so.
Mr. Joshi’s remark came in response to the Opposition’s charge that it is a violation of rules to push through the government’s legislative agenda before taking up the no-confidence motion that was moved by Congress Deputy Leader Gaurav Gogoi.
Though there is no official word on it, sources indicated the debate could start by August 2 or 3 once Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla finalises the date after following the convention of consulting the Prime Minister, who is also the Leader of the House.
As soon as proceedings in the Lok Sabha started at 11 a.m., Opposition members were on their feet demanding an immediate discussion on the no-confidence motion against the Modi government.
“Don’t you want to allow the House to function? Question Hour, where the government replies to the questions of the members, is very important,” Mr. Birla told Opposition members, asking them to take part in the proceedings.
1978 no-trust motion
Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury then recalled a 1978 no-trust motion against the Morarji Desai government when the Chair started the debate the same day the no-trust motion notice was received.
Hitting back, Mr. Joshi said everything was happening as per procedure and the debate on a no-confidence motion could be started within 10 days. “We have the numbers with us. If you have the numbers, defeat our Bills,” Mr. Joshi said.
As protests and sloganeering continued, the Speaker adjourned the House till noon. When the House resumed, the Lok Sabha passed three Bills, including the Mines and Mineral Amendment Bill, amid protests and sloganeering. The government also listed its legislative business for the next week in the afternoon before the House was adjourned for the day.
Earlier, Mr Joshi told reporters that legislative business of the government could not come to a standstill because of the no-confidence motion.
“They have suddenly brought the no-confidence motion, does that mean no government business should take place,”Mr. Joshi said.
Manipur visit
The Minister also questioned the visit of the delegation of Opposition members to Manipur over the weekend to express their solidarity with the people of the State.
“Let them go. What ground zero report? We are ready to place everything on the floor of the House if they allow discussion. If they want to discuss, if they want the truth to come out, then there is no better place than the floor of the House,” said Mr. Joshi.
The 20-member delegation will include Mr. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Mr. Gaurav Gogoi and party’s Chief Whip Kodikunnil Suresh of the Congress, Trinamool Congress’s Sushmita Dev, Janata Dal (United) chief Rajiv Ranjan (Lalan) Singh, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s Mahua Maji, Dravida Munnetra Kazagham’s Kanimozhi, Nationalist Congress Party’s Mohammad Faizal, Jayant Chaudhary of the Rashtriya Lok Dal, Manoj Kumar Jha of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, N.K. Premachandran of the RSP and T. Thirumavalavan of the VCK.
CPI’s Sandosh Kumar, CPI(M)‘s A.A. Rahim, Samajwadi Party’s Javed Ali Khan, IUML’s E.T. Mohammed Basheer, AAP’s Sushil Gupta, Arvind Sawant (Shiv Sena-Uddhav Thackeray) and Phulo Devi Netam (Congress) will also be part of the delegation.
