Rajya Sabha functioned smoothly after VP Naidu's appeal

Rajya Sabha on Thursday had smooth morning session for the first time in this Winter Session after Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu’s appeal in the House that came after a meeting of party leaders earlier in the day.

The tone for the sitting came at a meeting of the leaders of various parties in Rajya Sabha at Naidu’s chamber in the morning where all accepted the need for running the House to finish legislative and other business. The Session ends next Tuesday.

While a senior Opposition leader quipped that the House will function on Thursday smoothly, Trinamool Congress leader in Rajya Sabha Derek O’Brien tweeted, “The weather report from the Rajya Sabha is good for Thursday afternoon. Discussion on Jammu and Kashmir should happen between 2 and 5 pm today.”

AIADMK and DMK MPs were protesting in the past few days over Cauvery issue and it had resulted in the washing out of business in the past 13 days. On Wednesday afternoon, 12 MPs of AIADMK and DMK were suspended for the day to enable the discussion on a statutory resolution on imposition of President’s Rule.

As soon as the House assembled at 11 AM, Naidu made an appeal to the members saying the Rajya Sabha could not function so far and it was the 14^th day. “For asking holidays, there is a broad consensus but when it comes to working, there are some reservations,” he said while pointing out that there are several important issues to be discussed.

Till Wednesday, the Rajya Sabha functioned for 269 minutes in 13 working days. Usually, the Rajya Sabha is supposed to sit between 11 AM and 1 PM and 2 PM to 5 PM.

Referring to a news report where an MP suggested that he was not taking efforts to normalise things in the House, Naidu said, “I have spoken to MPs more than ten times. I have called some MPs individually. I have spoken to the Leader of the Opposition and other Opposition leaders also and you are saying I have not done anything.”

As the Zero Hour commenced, Naidu said he has disallowed a suspension of business notice to discuss women’s reservation in lawmaking bodies but could allow a substantial discussion on a different provision.

AIADMK’s Navaneethakrishnan then sought to raise the Cauvery issue but his comments related to suspension of party MPs in Lok Sabha were removed from the records. AIADMK MPs walked out of the House later.

Several MPs later raised matters during the Zero Hour.