Parliamentary institutions can't be held captive to competing agendas: Venkaiah Naidu

NEW DELHI: Referring to the persisting turbulence in the upper house, Rajya Sabha chairman Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday said he was pained at the inability of the members of the House to ensure convergence of different agendas into a national agenda.

"The nation can't find its feet and fulfil its quest without a shared parliamentary agenda among different political parties," Naidu said in his speech after releasing the 'Rajya Sabha Calendar 2019' in Parliament house.

Since the winter sessions stated on December 11, the Rajya Sabha has failed to transact any business of significance on most days due to constant protests and resultant adjournments. "Parliamentary institutions can't be held captive to the competing agendas. We can't afford to lose any more time in lending a degree of maturity to our democratic processes and institutions. The civility of proceedings in parliamentary institutions is a certain barometer of an aspiring nation finding it's feet and fulfilling it's quest," Naidu said.

The calendar features one chairman in each page along with the quotes of what they said about the expectations from the House and the members. A wide array of 65 leaders since the inception of the Upper House in 1952 are featured in the calendar. Referring to this, Naidu noted that the calendar is a chronicle of political changes and the history of Rajya Sabha.