Opposition MPs of Rajya Sabha presiding panel refuse to chair House

Three Opposition MPs — one each from Congress, Trinamool Congress and NCP — who are part of the presiding panel of Rajya Sabha refused to chair the proceedings during the entire Monsoon Session, citing that it was "unethical" to preside over the House when their colleagues were protesting.

There are six members in the presiding panel or the Vice Chairman’s panel and they are BJP’s Bhubaneshwar Kalita and Surender Nagar, BJD’s Sasmit Patra, Congress' L Hanumanthaiah, Trinamool's Sukendu Sekhar Ray and NCP's Vandana Chavan.

Hanumanthaiah, Ray and Chavan did not chair the House during the entire Monsoon Session, which saw acrimony between the government and the Opposition. The Session ended on August 11, two days ahead of schedule.

The three MPs informed Deputy Chairman Harivansh, who clears the roster for the presiding officers, about their inability to chair the proceedings during the Session.

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When contacted, Hanumanthaiah told DH that the MPs took the decision after consulting each other. "The whole Opposition was in protest. We were also participating in the protest. In such a situation, it is embarrassing to preside over the House. The government was not listening to us," he said.

The Karnataka MP said it would not have been a problem if the protest was for one or two days. "The protest was continuing. We thought it was not ethical to chair the proceedings when the government refused to accept our demand," he said, adding they had explained the situation to Harivansh.

Chavan said it was morally not correct to preside over the House when they were protesting and there was no sight of easing the deadlock.

"All of us were protesting. Then chairing the proceedings was pretty odd. For myself, I decided not to do chair proceedings. Others also decided not to do so," she told DH.

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"I personally met the Deputy Chairman and informed him about the decision. I told him that when the House is functioning smoothly, we will do our job. But the present situation does not allow me to conduct the House," she said.

Ray could not be reached for his comments.

Sources said some MPs tried to reason with the three MPs but they remained adamant in not sitting on the Chair. The MPs said it would be difficult for them to reconcile their position as an MP and Vice Chairperson, as controlling the protesting MPs would have been difficult.

While those in the Vice Chairperson panel in Rajya Sabha took this stand, Opposition MPs in Lok Sabha adopted a different stand and presided over the proceedings, including during Opposition protests. Congress' Kodikkunnil Suresh and Trinamool's Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar among others presided over Lok Sabha proceedings.