Monsoon Session: Rajya Sabha functions sans interruption after Opposition walks out

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Opposition stuck to its demand for holding a discussion on the Manipur situation under Rule 267 in the Rajya Sabha and staged a walkout on Wednesday but for the first time since the monsoon session began on July 20 there were no adjournments and three bills were passed with only the NDA and neutral parties participating in the debate. Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar announced that he has received 58 notices under Rule 267 but since these were not in order, he was not accepting them. He invited Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge to express his views but when the latter reiterated that he has eight points on why there should be a discussion under Rule 267, the Chair stopped him.

Kharge said in the notice given by him, he has explained why Prime Minister Narendra Modi should speak on the Manipur situation. Dhankhar said the Chair has never directed any prime minister to come to the House or to make a statement. «If the prime minister wants to come to the House, it is his prerogative.

I cannot issue a directive from this Chair,» he said, adding that this has never been done. The Chairman also stated that it is «factually incorrect» that he ever wanted to restrict the Short Duration Discussion to only 2.5 hours. The Opposition shouted slogans demanding that the PM come to the House and make a statement on Manipur.

All the INDIA parties then staged a walkout while the Chairman moved to Zero Hour. NDA members as well as BJD, YSRCP and AIADMK members raised their issues. This was followed by Question Hour where again the Opposition was absent and supplementary questions were posed by the NDA members.