JOIN USMP Shashi Tharoor has urged Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar to consider the possibility of holding a five-day sitting of both the Houses of Parliament outside New Delhi, preferably in Bangalore.
In a letter to Kumar, the former UN diplomat turned parliamentarian said a decision in this regard might be announced during a function organised to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the first sitting of the First Lok Sabha on May 13, a press note issued by his constituency office today said.
He said it would be a symbolic gesture which would give the people a fresh look at the vital role played by parliament in the country.
Tharoor, who represents Kerala capital in the Lok Sabha, proposed that Parliament may hold a 5-day sitting during the next Monsoon Session in a suitable location outside the national capital, ideally in Bengaluru.
Expressing concern over frequent disruption of parliament functioning and criticism heaped on parliamentarians by certain quarters, Tharoor said holding a session outside Delhi would give an opportunity to people to have look at the functioning of parliament.
"It would be a symbolic gesture to take the Parliament itself to the people in order to enable them to have a fresh look at the actual functioning of the Houses and the vital work they do in the governance of this vast nation of 1.2 billion people, constituting one-fifth of humanity," he said.
He said the Karnataka capital was typical of the dynamic face of new India and the younger generation of the city represented a cross-section of the flower of the nation in whom the future responsibilities of nation-building rests.
He said the idea of holding sittings of the full Parliament outside New Delhi had been discussed in the past but that, however, for various reasons -- mostly, financial, logistical and infrastructural – could not be implemented.
Such reasons, however, were not valid in this era of advanced technology, computers, communication facilities and strong infrastructure.