Parliament logjam persists as both sides remain rigid: VP Dhankhar

The disruption of proceedings was not sending the right signals, Dhankhar said

Another attempt to clear the logjam in Parliament ended without any result on Thursday with both the ruling BJP and the joint Opposition remaining “rigid” on their positions, leading to disruptions in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar called a meeting of floor leaders in the Upper House where the leaders refused to budge from their stand in their demands for apology from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his remarks abroad and setting up a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on Adani Group issue.

When Rajya Sabha convened in the morning, Dhankhar told the House that he held three meetings with floor leaders since Tuesday but the two sides have “taken a rigid stance” and that he appeals to all to “interact among themselves” and find a way out.

The disruption of proceedings was not sending the right signals, he said, as the BJP MPs started shouting slogans demanding apology from Rahul for his ‘democracy in danger’ remarks. Opposition protested and countered the BJP with a demand for JPC.

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Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha Piyush Goyal said the Congress has absolutely no principles and the country is today concerned about the comments made by the party leader that brought “much discredit” to the country. Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge countered him saying the issue is the setting up of JPC.

In the meeting of floor leaders with the Chairman, sources said, Goyal said that Rahul should apologise and the ruling side was not going back on this. To this, Congress leaders Pramod Tiwari and Jairam Ramesh said the issue before the Parliament was setting up a JPC on Adani issue.

Several other Opposition parties also countered the ruling side. Sources said Goyal told the meeting that the government has nothing to hide on the Adani affair and it was an individual’s affair. Dhankhar also told the meeting that both the sides should pipe down on their demands for the smooth functioning of Parliament.

On Tuesday, Dhankhar had held two meetings with many of the Opposition parties skipping it alleging that the government was disrupting the House. Earlier, the government had sent feelers that it could drop their demand for Rahul’s apology but the Opposition rejected the overtures.

Dhankhar and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla too suggested that both the sides could leave aside the contentious issues on the back burner. However, the Opposition remained adamant on setting up a JPC as well as allowing Rahul to make a “personal explanation” against the allegations made against him.