Kapil Sibal's 3-point advice on Parliament logjam: ‘For a start, alter rules…’

Opposition parties continued to force adjournment in Parliament over their demands related to price rise and imposition of GST on some items of daily use.

Former Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member Kapil Sibal on Thursday suggested altering the Rules of Procedure for Parliament amid continued logjam in both Houses over the Opposition’s demand to discuss inflation and imposition of GST on some items of daily use. One day of the week should be reserved for any matter that the Opposition wishes to discuss in Parliament, one of the suggestions said.

Kapil Sibal takes oath as Rajya Sabha MP on the first day of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, in New Delhi on Monday. (ANI)

Sibal added that the government should not have the right to veto the issue raised by the Opposition on this reserved day. According to the third suggestion, no legislation should be passed without discussion on the floor of the House.

Sibal was elected to Rajya Sabha last month as an independent candidate with the support of the Samajwadi Party after he resigned from the Congress party in May. Sibal's suggestions came amid protests from Opposition parties over inflation and GST on goods of daily consumption.

On Wednesday, Speaker Om Birla said the opposition members should not resort to sloganeering and let the House conduct the business.

"The House is for dialogue, not for sloganeering," he said.

"If you want to raise an issue, go to your seats. You have not been elected to raise slogans, display placards, " he said. The House was later adjourned for the day.

Meanwhile, no significant business could be conducted in both the Houses on the fourth day of the monsoon session as Congress again tried to raise the issues of price rise and the Enforcement Directorate summons to Congress president Sonia Gandhi for questioning in a money laundering case, forcing adjournments. In Lok Sabha, some Congress members displayed placards saying "Satyameva Jayate" with a photograph of Sonia Gandhi. In Rajya Sabha, Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu ordered that those carrying placards and other articles should be named in the House Bulletin with remarks that the Chair disapproved of their actions.

(With PTI inputs)