Parliament logjam to end? Govt agrees to debate Constitution in both Houses

In a bid to end an over week-long stalemate in Parliament with proceedings washed out for the sixth consecutive sitting on Monday, the government agreed to the opposition demand to have a debate on the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the Indian Constitution in both Houses.

Parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju said all floor leaders met in the office of Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla on Monday and decided to resume proceedings smoothly from Tuesday when the first Bill will be tabled and passed.

Rijiju said the government has agreed to the opposition demand for a debate on the Constitution of India.

The debate will be held in Lok Sabha on December 13 and 14 and in Rajya Sabha on December 16 and 17.

“Today all party floor leaders met the Lok Sabha Speaker in respect of the Parliament stalemate. All have expressed concern over continued Parliament logjam. We also said that elected MPs come to the Parliament and say their things and it was not good to disrupt Parliament for days on end and waste people’s money. This is not good. The government has agreed to the opposition’s demand for a debate on the Constitution,” Rijiju said after the meeting.

He said the Lok Sabha will sit on Friday and Saturday (December 13 and 14) to debate the Constitution and Rajya Sabha on December 16 and 17.

Rijiju said the Speaker also conveyed to leaders that anyone wanting to raise anything has to give a notice and disruption was not the way forward.

“Tomorrow we will pass the first Bill. From tomorrow we have agreed to run the House. I urge all opposition party leaders to honour the agreement we have reached to run the Parliament. The country wants to see how MPs work. We have agreed to run the Parliament smoothly from tomorrow. We appeal to all to use the remainder of the session well,” Rijiju said.