New Delhi: As the Winter Session of Parliament has come to an end, on Wednesday, Congress party's Rajya Sabha MP Syed Naseer Hussain alleged that the Government's move to suspend 12 members was to reduce the strength of Opposition.
Naseer Hussain, who was also among the suspended MPs, accused the Government of shying away from holding debates.
"They actually wanted to decrease the number of Opposition MPs to skip the debate and pass the bills. That is what they have done. This has been the character of this government since 2014 and the same thing was being done by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was the Chief Minister of Gujarat at that time," he said.
Suspension of MPs meant to reduce Opposition numbers, say Congress leaders Similarly, Congress' Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge alleged, "The Govt just wanted to fulfill its agenda. As per the data, Opposition MPs with independent members are 120 in numbers while NDA has 118 members. They thought that they can get into a problem during the passage of any bill. So they suspended 12 RS MPs on the very first day so that they can get into majority."
Kharge also slammed the government for throwing allegations against Opposition for disrupting the House. "Govt alleges that Opposition disrupted the Parliament proceedings but the truth is that as soon as we stand up from our seats to say anything, the house used to get adjourned. The Chairman always said that I can't do anything as govt is not ready to take up the matter," he said.
Sharing his view, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh said, "This suspension was undemocratic, in violation of the rules. LoP had written a letter while I went to meet the Speaker personally. Kharge ji had said to Piyush Goyal and Prahlad Joshi that I will express my regret on whatever incident occurred in Monsoon Session but they made it clear that they want an apology from all the suspended MPs."
When asked about the passage of Election Law (Amendment) Bill, Naseer Hussain replied, "This party (BJP) had opposed Aadhar Card when they were in Opposition. This is not mandatory but voluntary. We just wanted to send this to Select Committee so that it can be discussed thoroughly."
The Bill, which has been passed both in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, seeks to link Aadhaar ecosystem with the Elector's Photo Identity Card (EPIC) to weed out duplication.
While introducing the bill, Rijiju said that the legislation will make the electoral process more credible as it will end bogus voting in the country.
Apart from this, the Congress MP also attacked the BJP government over the phone tapping allegations of Opposition leaders in UP, saying, "We asked for an inquiry in to Pegasus but they didn't heed. Whenever there are elections in different states, mobiles get hacked, raids takes place on Opposition leaders. That's what BJP does and currently doing."
