Chairman allowing govt to hijack Rajya Sabha, allege Opposition MPs

“In my entire political life spanning 55 years, I have never seen a more biased and partisan presiding officer in Parliament,” fumed veteran Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Monday. Both the presiding officers — speaker Om Birla in the Lok Sabha and vice-president Jagdeep Dhankhar in the Rajya Sabha — have tried the patience of Opposition MPs, who feel they have been civil and respectful, but the presiding officers have been taking them for granted.

Rajya Sabha deputy leader of the Opposition Pramod Tiwari also voiced his frustration and pointed out that when Question Hour began, he was on his feet to ask his question but was never given an opportunity. Even as the chairman, who had disallowed a notice submitted by BJP members for suspending the business of the House to discuss the alleged nexus between billionaire George Soros and Congress leaders, allowed leader of the House J.P. Nadda and other BJP leaders to speak on the subject.

Protests by Rajya Sabha leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge that the chairman was allowing BJP members to speak against the rules were ignored by the chairman. “Nothing will go on record,” he ruled. Both Houses of Parliament were again washed out after BJP members demanded a discussion on the alleged Soros link and the Opposition pressed for a discussion on the PM’s links with Gautam Adani.

While several Opposition members talked about making a political point and move a no-confidence motion against the vice-president who is the ex-officio chairman of the Rajya Sabha, it is not clear if the motion can at all be moved since it requires a 14-day notice. In the current winter session, only eight working days remain. The Opposition does not have majority in either House, whereas the motion needs to be passed by a majority in the Rajya Sabha as well as the Lok Sabha in order to be effective.

However, by bringing the motion and forcing a discussion on the issue, Opposition members said, they would at least draw attention to the biased conduct of the chair. The Opposition, after trying in vain to force discussions on Manipur, price rise, Indo-China relations, unemployment and of course Adani, had agreed to a two-day discussion on the Constitution, hoping that at some point, discussion on the other issues would be allowed in the two Houses.  

The Opposition is toying with the idea of initiating the motion under Article 67 (B) of the Constitution, which says the VP can be removed by a resolution of the Rajya Sabha passed by an effective majority and agreed upon by the Lok Sabha with a simple majority.

After the recent by-elections, the Upper House has an effective strength of 234 MPs. The BJP has 96 MPs and the NDA in all has 113 MPs. The six nominated MPs, who mostly side with the government in case of a vote, would take the strength of the ruling NDA to 119 in the Upper House — two more than the current simple majority of 117. If all Opposition MPs come together in the Rajya Sabha, the number will be 90.

A similar attempt against Dhankhar was made by the opposition in August this year but not pressed.