Congress Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh. (File Photo)
Rajya Sabha Congress MP Jairam Ramesh on Friday wrote to Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu requesting a special two-week session in May or June to pass important legislation and felicitate debate and discussion. Both Houses of Parliament failed to transact any substanial business in the second part of the budget session and were adjourned sine die. The BJP and Congress have blamed each other for the washout.
In his letter, accessed by news agency ANI, Ramesh wrote: “I wish to make a suggestion purely in my personal capacity. Why don’t you try and persuade the government to convene a special two-week session sometime in late May or early June to both pass important legislation and also have debate and discussion on burning political, economic and social issues.”
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“l am aware that the monsoon session will be called sometime in mid-July but a special session sends a different signal altogether. There is no doubt that the complete washout has inflicted great damage to Parliament as an institution and I think a special session may help retrieve some of its lost prestige,” Ramesh added.
Responding to Jairam Ramesh’s letter, BJP MP Vijay Goel said, “First they do not let the session run, now they are asking for another session? Do they want salaries and allowances again?”
Naidu had on Friday called the session an “eminently forgettable one” due to “total breakdown” in communication among various sections of the Upper House.
The Lok Sabha recorded a productivity of four per cent and the Rajya Sabha six per cent. The session was the least productive Budget session since 2000, data showed.