New Delhi: Opposition parties on Sunday objected to the government's offer for a joint address to all MPs by the prime minister on Covid at the Parliament annexe, saying this will be "highly irregular" at a time when Parliament will be in session and it aims to "bypass" norms. Leaders, including from the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the CPI(M), also said that when the Covid pandemic and issues related to it can be discussed on the floor of the House, what was the need to go "outside". The annexe is a separate building within the premises of the Parliament complex.
In an all-party meeting on Sunday, a day before the Monsoon Session of Parliament begins, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi announced that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address MPs of both the Houses - Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha - on July 20 and speak on the pandemic.
"What is the need to go outside Parliament? Any address should be on the floor of the House. This is another idea to bypass Parliament. Stop making a mockery of the Parliament. How far will Modi and (Union Home Minister Amit) Shah go? Just when we thought that they cannot go lower, they want to make a presentation in the annexe and not on the floor of the House," TMC Rajya Sabha member Derek O'Brien, who was at the meeting, said.
The meeting was attended by 33 parties ahead of the Monsoon session which will conclude on August 13. "MPs do not want fancy PowerPoint presentations on COVID-19 from the PM or this government in some conference room. Parliament will be in session. Come to the floor of the House," O'Brien said.
Sources in other opposition parties confirmed that Parliamentary Affairs Minister Joshi's offer has been refused and that some have even suggested a joint sitting of the Houses at the Central Hall. CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said that the party's position has always been that when Parliament is in session, whatever the government has to say, it can do so on the floor of the House.
"It is highly irregular for the government to do this. When the Parliament is in session, any address or presentation the government wants to make, it has to be done from inside Parliament. Our stand on this has been very clear," he said.
O'Brien claimed that all opposition leaders present in the meeting, including Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Samajwadi Party's Ramgopal Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party's Satish Mishra refused to be addressed "outside" Parliament.
Some opposition party MPs, on the condition of anonymity, said some parties have already planned to give notices on the Covid situation issue in Parliament and no one wanted to listen to the government anywhere other than the floor of the Parliament. The sources also said that NCP leader Sharad Pawar was the lone opposition leader who did not outright reject the proposal of the prime minister's address at the Parliament Annexe.
During the meeting, almost all parties raised issues related to fuel prices, farm laws, Covid and the state of the economy, they said. Kharge hit out at the prime minister over his short presence at the meeting and said that it was an "insult" to all political parties present. He also raised the issue of the appointment of a deputy speaker and said this should be done. Derek O'Brien also tweeted about the short presence of the prime minister.