National   

Ansari to hold all-party meet

NEW DELHI: Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari will convene an all-party meeting next week to discuss the issue of frequent disruptions of the House, particularly question hour. On Wednesday, the upper house was adjourned thrice after members of the Samajwadi Party and the Telugu Desam Party objected to their names being mentioned in the Parliamentary Bulletin for “entering the well of the House in violation of the rules.”

For now the matter was sorted out with an agreement that in the bulletin to be issued next Monday the Rajya Sabha secretariat would issue a notification “expunging” the observations against the SP and TDP members.

Although the matter was sorted out by evening at a meeting of leaders of all parties in the Chairman’s chamber, it was agreed that Mr. Ansari would call the leaders for a separate meeting next week to discuss the larger issue of the smooth functioning of the House as per the rules.

Among others who attended the meeting were Sharad Yadav (JD-U) Sushma Swaraj (BJP), Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M), D. Maitreyan (AIADMK), Satish Mishra (BSP) and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs (Suresh Pachauri).

According to sources, some of the leaders including Mr. Yechury suggested that as Amar Singh (SP) had expressed regrets in the House, the matter should be closed.

There was some discussion on the language of the subsequent notification but finally it was agreed that the bulletin would say that in view of the regrets expressed by Mr. Singh and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi, the observations in the Part II of the Parliamentary Bulletin would stand “expunged.” The members who have been named for entering the well of the House are Shahid Siddiqui, Abu Asim Azmi, Kamal Akhtar, Brij Bhushan Tiwari, Veer Pal Singh Yadav, Nand Kishore Yadav, Bhagwati Singh (All from the SP) and M.V. Mysura Reddy (TDP).

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Parliamentary panel: keep existing Bangalore and Hyderabad airports
All-party meet on women’s Bill
A pat for Vajpayee and a plea too
“India must end military ties with Israel”
Criticism not based on facts: BJP
Seeking legal opinion: CM
“Sabre-rattling does not stop terror”
“H.R. Khanna, a courageous and firm judge”
Ghising revives Gorkhaland demand
‘BrahMos to be fired from submarine soon’
Thackeray targets Biharis
Fifth Long Range plane for AI
Major shortage of Army officers: Antony
BJP says loan waiver will backfire in June
‘Interpret Muslim laws properly’
U.P. ban on student union polls goes
House praises cricket team
Ansari to hold all-party meet
Bhagat Singh statue to be installed
Plan finalised
Swamy gets time to file reply

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu