Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar has written a letter to Congress president and LoP, Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge stating that 46 MPs in Upper House were suspended from the House as they created "deliberate disorder by way of sloganeering, raising placards, entering the well of the House and gesticulating towards the Chair."
In a 'reply' to Kharge's letter, Dhankar wrote that he wished the Congress chief's assertion that he wanted to discuss the matter "was reflected in actions".
"During the entire session, despite my repeated requests, in the House and by way of written communications to secure your indulgence for interaction, the same did not fructify. Painfully I had to suffer in the House your stance 'rejecting' my offer for interaction in Chamber," wrote the Rajya Sabha Chairman.
He also told Kharge that the Leader of the Opposition avoiding interacting with the Rajya Sabha Chairman "is unwholesomely unprecedented and certainly not in sync with well established parliamentary practice".
Jagdeep Dhankar also took a jibe at the Congress chief alleging that the party had a role in the "deliberate disorder" and wrote, "I do not seek to embarrass you by indicating the predetermined role of the main opposition party in this communication, but will share with you when I have the benefit of interaction with you."
The Rajya Sabha Chairman said the MPs who were suspended "had a lifetime miss" as they could not participate in the debate held over the three revised criminal bills which were passed in their absence.
A day after Congress president and Rajya Sabha Leader of opposition Mallikarjun Kharge wrote a letter to Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on MPs' suspensions, the latter replied him requesting to spare time for interaction on the Christmas Day, December 25th, at 4 pm at his official residence, Up-Rashtrpati Niwas, in Delhi.
Dhankhar wrote that, "Weaponising disruption and disturbance as a political strategy is no less than sacrileging in the temple of democracy. As members of the Council of States, the Upper House, the House of Elders we need to exemplify our conduct worth emulating by others."
Priyanka Gandhi has been replaced as Congress General Secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh and this means she will have a bigger role in 202 polls and could even contest elections herself including from Raebareli or Varanasi.
In a major organisational reshuffle in Congress, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has made former deputy CM (Rajasthan) Sachin Pilot the new AICC general secretary in charge of Chhattisgarh.
Avinash Pande has been appointed in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, replacing Priyanka Gandhi. Former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh has been appointed as general secretary communications.
French Prez Macron will be chief guest at Republic Day celebrations, Jan 26, 2024 ::::: "Rahul goaded Opposition MPs to create ruckus", says Govt
French President Emmanuel Macron will be the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations on January 26, 2024.
"Thank you for your invitation, my dear friend @NarendraModi. India, on your Republic Day, I’ll be here to celebrate with you!," Macron tweeted. The Prime Minister also responded saying:
"My Dear Friend President @EmmanuelMacron. We eagerly look forward to receiving you as the Chief Guest at the 75th Republic Day. We will also celebrate India- France strategic partnership and shared belief in democratic values.
Bientôt !"
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| Macron in India: Earlier visit |
Notably, Macron will be the sixth French leader who will be the chief guest at India's ceremonial Republic Day parade.
Former French Prime Minister Jacques Chirac graced the event twice, in 1976 and 1998. Former presidents Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande, attended the celebrations in 1980, 2008, and 2016, respectively.
Earlier, in September 2023, US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti said President of the United States, Joe Biden, was invited to be the chief guest for the Republic Day celebrations. However, Biden reportedly declined the invitation and the Quad Summit which was to be held around Republic Day has also been postponed.
PM Modi and President Macron share good personal bond.
India and France are celebrating the 25th anniversary of their Strategic Partnership this year. Every year, India invites foreign leaders to attend its Republic Day celebrations. There were only two instances -- in 2021 and 2022 -- when no Republic Day chief guest was invited due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was the chief guest at the 2023 Republic Day celebrations.
In July this year, Mr Modi attended the Bastille Day celebrations as the Guest of Honour. Bastille Day is celebrated as the National Day of France. It is marked on July 14 every year.
In the context of unprecedented suspension of 146 Opposition MPs in the Winter Session of Parliament, Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Pralhad Joshi, alleged in an TV interview that it was Rahul Gandhi who goaded Opposition MPs to create a ruckus inside Parliament.
Answering questions Joshi told 'India Today' TV that they (Opposition MPs) had already decided that they did not want to participate in any discussion, and thus, he said, the government did not have any other option.
"Speaker personally sat (in May 2023) with all the legislators (including Opposition MPs). He requested that no one should bring placards and avoid disruptions as much as possible. Placards were clearly banned and a resolution regarding the same was put forth.
Everybody agreed in the floor leaders' meeting not to bring placards. Everything was smooth initially, and suddenly, after getting directions from someone, they started disrupting the session," Joshi added.
In fact, he also said, even on Dec 13 within hours after the smoke attack incident, a Bill was taken up in Lok Sabha and it was piloted by Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and even Congress floor leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury had spoken on the Bill.
The discussions continued for 40 minutes and only then 'instructions' came from outside and the pandemonium was created.
To a question, the minister was very categorical and put forward a query -- "Who said there was no samvad (dialogue) with the Opposition".
"If you work on a perception I cannot reply...I can reply to a question. We requested them after suspension of 13 MPs on the first day....we told them please do come, let us have a talk. And Speaker (Om Birla) also called to have meeting," Joshi said and then added:
".....we said 12 Bills will be taken up and out of these five Bills belonged to Home Ministry and anything could be brought up ....But what they wanted, after these election results Parliament is functioning so smoothly....Some MPs of Congress and other parties also expressed (views)....sab smooth chal raha hae..Yeh kya Parliament hae".
"Yeh haar ka badla lene chahte they (The Opposition wanted to take a revenge of their recent defeat in the polls)," Joshi said.
To another question he said,
"What did they (Opposition) do in the last session? They said we wanted a discussion on the Manipur issue. I spoke to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Home Minister Amit Shah. They (Singh and Shah) said we are ready to discuss. When I said we were ready to discuss, they started saying we wanted Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement. They pre-decide not to let the Parliament function," Pralhad Joshi said.
"Jo sote hain unko aap jaga sakte hain, par jo sone ka natak karte hain, unko aap nahi jaga sakte (You can wake up those who are asleep, but you cannot wake up those who pretend to be asleep)", he added.
PARLIAMENT BREACH PROBE UNDERWAY: PRALHAD JOSHI
"As the security breach happened entirely within the Chamber, the matter was handed to police and a high-level enquiry has been conducted. After the Speaker's announcement, the matter was handed over to Delhi Police and an FIR has been lodged in the matter. The enquiry is underway and several people have been arrested.
Who said we would not make a statement on the matter? At least let the preliminary enquiry report come out. How can we make a statement before that?" Joshi asked.
The Minister said, "Intolerance (against Modi Govt) is developing like anything...Yeh Modi ji kahan se aya. They think the chair is our's, why is he sitting...They lost two times (2014 and 2019) and also in states, they are not able to digest it".
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