Opposition parties on Sunday staged a "walkout" from the all-party meeting convened by the government ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament over Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju extending an invitation to the National Citizens Party of India to take part in the meeting. They said the move was against the norms, and the TMC rebel MPs' merger into the "so-called NCPI" has not been approved by the Lok Sabha Speaker.
TMC leader Mahua Moitra said that opposition parties registered their strong protest over the government's decision. The opposition members staged a walkout soon after the all-party meeting began.
"Today, the entire opposition including Congress, the Samajwadi Party, DMK, JMM, Aam Aadmi Party, National Conference, Left parties, Shiv Sena UBT have all walked out of the all party meeting in protest because the so-called NCPI, which is an unrecognized party, the strength of the All India Trinamool Congress in the list provided by the table office is shown to be 28 members. These so-called rebel 20 MPs, their merger has not been approved by the Speaker," Moitra said.
"The 20 disqualification petitions are still pending. After the 91st amendment, there is no room for a separate bloc. So, on what grounds did the Parliamentary Affairs Minister extend an invitation to these 20 rebel MPs, and how are they attending this meeting? We have registered our strong protest and walked out as a symbol of our protest. And we thank all our opposition parties," she added.
Congress MP Pramod Tiwari said the party staged a walkout to uphold the Constitution. Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Arvind Sawant also backed the protest, questioning the recognition accorded to the rebel MPs.
"The affiliation granted to them (rebel MPs), where is that term in the books of law? We too have protested against it and walked out of the House," Sawant said.
Six Shiv Sena (UBT) "merged" with the Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde ahead of the monsoon session of Parliament. AAP Rajya Sabha MP ND Gupta alleged that a similar situation had arisen in his party's case and accused the government of undermining democratic norms.
"In our case, of 10 MPs of the Rajya Sabha, seven have been hijacked, and our petition to decide whether this is valid or not is pending. In spite of this fact, they have allotted independent separate seats in the Rajya Sabha. This is a hijack and murder of the democracy," Gupta said.
The monsoon session of Parliament will be held from July 20 to August 13.
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