Opposition leaders may urge Naidu to break impasse after Sonia meet

According to people familiar with the developments, the leaders may also point out to Naidu how his predecessor, Hamid Ansari, often took the lead to end such logjams during his tenure.

Senior Opposition leaders such as the Congress’s Mallikarjun Kharge and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar may collectively urge Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu to take the initiative to end the logjam in RS over the suspension of 12 MPs, a meeting chaired by Congress president Sonia Gandhi decided on Tuesday.

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and other opposition parties’ members stage a protest demanding revocation of the suspension of 12 Rajya Sabha MPs, at Parliament premises in New Delhi, on Tuesday. (PTI)

According to people familiar with the developments, the leaders may also point out to Naidu how his predecessor, Hamid Ansari, often took the lead to end such logjams during his tenure.

The strategy on the Opposition’s way forward in the Upper House, besides the upcoming assembly elections in several states, was decided at a key meeting of leaders of five parties at Gandhi’s residence.

At the meeting, Yechury pointed out Ansari’s role in a marathon logjam in 2015 over the passage of bills. “In such cases, it is always the chairman who takes the lead to bring the House in order,” Yechury was quoted as saying by one of the people cited above.

Condemning the suspension move, Sonia said such a situation is unheard of. Rahul remained insistent that the matter be solved by the government and that there is no question of any apology from the members.

When Yechury said that Opposition leaders should meet Naidu and seek his intervention, Kharge said he had met the House chairman two to three times in the last 10 days but no there was no development.

The leaders decided that along with Kharge, senior leaders such as Pawar would meet Naidu — possibly on Wednesday — to tell him that the Chairman always has always taken the lead to resolve acrimonious matters, the people cited above said.

Besides the MPs’ suspension, the Opposition leaders also discussed the upcoming assembly elections and insisted that their goal would be to maximise the Opposition votes in the poll-bound states through co-operation and strategic pacts.

A senior Opposition leader described Tuesday’s meeting as a follow-up of the mega Opposition meeting chaired by Sonia on August 20. This time, a smaller meeting was favoured keeping in mind the growing rift between the Congress and Trinamool Congress, after the latter poached several lawmakers and senior leaders and attacked the former in recent months.

“If you call all opposition parties and Mamata Banerjee (TMC chief) does not attend, the media headlines would scream that Mamata boycotted the Congress-led opposition. And if we don’t invite her, the headlines would suggest opposition boycotts Mamata. It’s a tricky situation both ways,” a senior Congress leader said, seeking anonymity. The Congress indicated that Sonia may hold similar meets in the future.