Modi, Shah and Sonia together: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla calls a meeting, tries to form an opinion on the issue of running Parliament; 74 hours wasted in this session

The proceedings of the Lok Sabha were adjourned sine die on Wednesday. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla called a meeting of the leaders of the ruling party and the opposition. The purpose of this meeting, held in Birla’s chamber, was to form an opinion on the issue of running the Parliament. During this, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi and Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury were present.

The meeting was attended by Sudip Bandopadhyay of Trinamool Congress, TR Balu of DMK, Sukhbir Singh Badal of Akali Dal, Mithun Reddy of YSRCP, Pinaki Mishra of Biju Janata Dal and Rajeev Ranjan Singh Lallan of JDU, Ritesh Pandey of BSP and Nama Nageshwar of Telangana Rashtra Samithi. Rao also joined in.

Birla urged the leaders of all parties to encourage discussion and dialogue in the House in future. Public welfare will be achieved only through discussion and dialogue. He said the manner in which some MPs behaved was not right. The dignity of Parliament should be maintained. All parties should think about this.

Waving placards, raising slogans against tradition: Birla
Talking to the media, Birla expressed grief over the lack of proper functioning of the House in the monsoon session. He said that the proceedings of the House should be carried out with consent and responsibility, but it is against the conventions to come near the chamber and wave placards, raise slogans of MPs.

Lok Sabha Speaker said that only 22% business was done due to the uproar in the House. It was my endeavor that the House would run as before and all issues would be discussed. All the members used to discuss, keep public issues, but this could not be possible.

21 hours 14 minutes working in 17 sittings of Lok Sabha
He informed that the sixth meeting of the 17th Lok Sabha began on 19 July 2021. During this, 21 hours 14 minutes of work was done in 17 meetings. Due to the uproar, work could not be done for 74 hours out of 96 hours. A total of 20 bills were passed. During this, a total of 20 bills were passed including the Constitution (127th Amendment) Bill related to OBCs. Four new members took oath.

The monsoon session of Parliament began on July 19, which was to end on August 13. During the session, the work was disrupted due to the uproar by members of opposition parties including Congress, Trinamool Congress over the Pegasus espionage case and three new agricultural laws at the Centre, and other issues. The government got several bills passed in the midst of the uproar.