NEW DELHI: The Congress on Thursday demanded suspension of all legislative businesses and early start of discussion on the no-confidence motion moved by party MP Gaurav Gogoi and accepted by Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla on July 26.
Congress Rajya Sabha MP and media head Jairam Ramesh said as per the rules and conventions, no legislative business can be transacted till the no-confidence motion is disposed of.
Ramesh said in a tweet, “There is absolute clarity in the stand of INDIA parties in Parliament. We want the no-confidence motion moved by the parties in the Lok Sabha in the immediate context of Manipur, which has been accepted by the Speaker, to be taken up at the earliest. According to Rules and Conventions, no legislative business can be transacted till the no-confidence motion is debated.”
The party’s Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari also demanded the same thing. He said, “It is unfortunate that bill after bill is being passed in the Lok Sabha in the din. Kaul & Shakhdar, Page 772, Practice & Procedure of Parliament, is very explicit. ‘When the leave of the House to the moving of a motion of ‘no-confidence’ has been granted, no substantive motion on policy matters is to be brought before the House by the government till the motion of no-confidence is not disposed of’.”
Tewari said if substantive motion of policy is barred, obviously legislation also can not be brought which holds the field for a 100 years or more. “I request Speaker @ombirlakota to start the discussion on the no-confidence motion without let or demur. It is a travesty to pass bills when the no-confidence motion is still pending,” he added.
Meanwhile, Jairam Ramesh also added a point regarding the Rajya Sabha. He said, “We want a statement by the PM in the Rajya Sabha on Manipur immediately followed thereafter by a discussion under Rule 267, which means that the issue being raised under this rule takes precedence over all other issues.”
He noted that this is the clear and consistent demand of INDIA parties so that a collective sense of anguish at what has happened in Manipur gets expressed and a collective resolve to promote peace, harmony and reconciliation in the state gets reinforced.
On July 26, the speaker had accepted the no-confidence motion moved by Gogoi, the deputy leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, after putting the motion to vote by by voice vote.
However, he said the time and date would be intimated at a later date. The debate on the motion is likely to start in the next week of the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament.
