Kurien holds the fort most of the time during the absence of Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu when the Rajya Sabha is in session.
Though close to 77, Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien is full of energy. His vocal chords even more vigorous. Kurien holds the fort most of the time during the absence of Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu when the Rajya Sabha is in session. No wonder, then, that everybody noticed his absence during the last two days of the session. One explanation that was forthcoming was that the veteran leader was indisposed. However, this did not stop MPs from loudly wondering whether the ostensible reason was an attempt to scotch speculation around other political reasons behind his absence from action.
About-Turn
The week started with the Opposition boycotting Rajya Sabha for half a day over Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu’s style of functioning, and ended with the Opposition expressing full confidence in him. Such is politics. The Rajya Sabha saw unusual scenes of member after member expressing confidence in Naidu, who was said to be upset over details of a meeting he had with some MPs coming out in a Facebook post. The chairman shared his unhappiness with the members at the customary morning meeting. And in the House, SP’s Naresh Agrawal said Naidu was not partial and all the members get justice from him and it was unfair on the part of a member to have posted such a comment on Facebook. Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said he condemned the post. Interestingly, it is still not clear who the member was.
Question Of Focus
The Congress parliamentary leadership found itself stuck between a rock and a hard place on the Renuka Chowdhury laughter episode. The party was forced to raise the issue in Rajya Sabha and disrupt the House after its women MPs approached Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad saying the party should stand up for her. This after the BJP linked her laughter with that of Surpanakha from the Ramayana serial telecast on Indian television in the late 1980s. But a large section of the party, including some other women MPs, feel the issue diverted focus from the party’s offensive on the Rafale deal. They feel the party fell into the BJP trap. Meanwhile, Chowdhury is not willing to let the issue die down and will push for a breach of privilege against Union minister Kiren Rijiju for allegedly posting a clip on his Twitter handle taking a dig at her.