New Delhi, March 21: The Chairman, Rajya Sabha, Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar called a meeting of the floor leaders of different political parties in Rajya Sabha twice today in an attempt to break the logjam in the House over the issues raised by both ruling as well as opposition parties.
In the meeting, he underlined that it is our prime duty to run the proceedings of the House in an orderly manner which is the essence of democracy and the expectation of the people. During the one and half hour-long meeting, Shri Dhankhar highlighted that the House is meant for debate and discussion in a collaborative manner, and not for confrontation and deadlock.
The first meeting was held at 11.30 am in which leaders of BJP, YSRCP, BJD and TDP were present. However, Floor Leaders of other Parties did not attend. The Chief Whip of the Congress Party and also the floor leader of the DMK Party called on the Chairman separately before the meeting and expressed their inability to attend the meeting convened by the Chairman.
The Chairman indicated to these two leaders that this would not help the cause of democracy and his feelings be so conveyed to the leaders. However, there was absence of leaders from INC, AITC, DMK, AAP, BJD, RJD, CPI (M), JD(U), AIADMK, NCP, SP, SS, CPI, TRS, AGP and others except for BJP, YSRCP, BJD and TDP in the first meeting.
Thereafter, the Rajya Sabha Chairman made another appeal to the floor leaders of the Parties, who absented from the first meeting, to revisit their decision and attend the second meeting which was held at 2:30 pm today.
The second meeting was attended by Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha, Dr Harivansh, Shri Sharad Pawar (NCP), Dr Keshav Rao (TRS), Shri Tiruchi Siva (DMK), Dr Shantanu Sen (TMC), Shri M. Thambidurai (DMK), Shri Sasmit Patra (BJD), Shri GK Vasan (Tamil Maanila Congress), Shri Birendra Prasad Baishya (AGP).
Union Minister and Leader of House, Shri Piyush Goel, Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Shri Palhad Joshi, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and Culture, Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal, Minister of State for External Affairs & Parliamentary Affairs, Shri V. Muraleedharan and Chief Whip of BJP (RS), Shri Laxmikant Bajpai.
To engage in further consultation, the Chairman has scheduled the next meeting at 10.00 am on March 23, 2023, with a request to all floor leaders to make it convenient to attend.
