'Two-Week Special Parliament Session', Demands Congress MP Jairam Naresh in Letter to Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu
"There is no doubt that the complete washout has inflicted great damage on Parliament as an institution, and I think a special session may help retrieve some of its lost prestige," said Ramesh in his letter to Naidu.
New Delhi, April 7: Congress Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh on Saturday wrote a letter to Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu seeking the reconvention of a special two-week session of the Parliament to discuss pending issues, apart from conducting legislative business.
Ramesh in his letter said a special sitting of the Parliament will send out a positive message to the nation. He said there are "burning social, political and economic issues" which could be discussed if he could "persuade" the government to call a special session of both the Houses.
While expressing regret over the total washout of the latter half of the Budget Session, which convened from March 6 and continued till April 6, Ramesh said the government was at fault as it did not engage with the Opposition to take them into confidence.
"There is no doubt that the complete washout has inflicted great damage on Parliament as an institution, and I think a special session may help retrieve some of its lost prestige," said Ramesh in his letter to Naidu.
"I wish to make a suggestion purely in my personal capacity. Why don't you try and persuade the government to convene a special two-week session sometime in late May or early June to both pass important legislation and also have debate and discussion on burning political, economic and social issues," he was quoted as saying in the letter.
The ruling BJP, however, took a jibe at the Congress saying the party is now staging a "drama" after "wasting crores of taxpayers' money".
"First they do not let the session run, now they are asking for another session? Do they want salaries and allowances again?," said MoS, Parliamentary Affairs, Vijay Goel.
The BJP MPs have decided to forego their salary of the past 23 working days as the both the Houses could not transact any legislative business.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 07, 2018 03:41 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).