Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge.
New Delhi: Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday invited Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge to his residence on December 25 for talks on the issue of disruption in Parliament and suspension of opposition MPs. Dhankhar also wrote in his letter that despite his repeated requests, such a meeting could not be held during the winter session. He said that the disruption in the House was intentional and as per strategy. Dhankhar said in the letter, ‘I do not want to embarrass you by pointing out the pre-planned role of the main opposition party in this episode, but whenever I get the opportunity to talk to you, I will definitely share it with you.’
‘My every attempt to talk to you has failed’
In a recent letter to Kharge, the leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Dhankhar wrote, ‘Shri Mallikarjun Kharge ji, I would have been satisfied if the resolve expressed in your letter dated December 22, 2023 that “we strongly believe in dialogue and negotiation”, would have been fulfilled. Could actually come true. Throughout the session, sometimes I requested inside the House and sometimes wrote letters requesting you to communicate and consult. All my repeated attempts to communicate with you have failed. Even inside the House, you completely rejected my every request for discussion. I also had to bear this pain in the House.
‘Intentional disruption was being created in the House’
Responding to Kharge’s December 22 letter, the Rajya Sabha Chairman said, ‘We need to move forward’ and invited him for talks at his official residence on December 25 ‘or at any time of his convenience’. Dhankhar said that contrary to Kharge’s view, the reason for suspension was the deliberate creation of disturbance in the House by sloganeering, waving placards, attempts to enter the well of the House and indecent behavior in front of the Chair. The Vice President said, ‘Before taking this unfortunate step, every effort, every measure was taken by me to establish order in the House.’
‘I even tried to talk by calling him into the room’
Dhankhar wrote in the letter, ‘After adjourning the House for some time, I also tried my best to call him to my chamber and talk to him. If you think about it, you will yourself admit that the Leader of the Opposition disdaining talks and communication with the Chairman, refusing every such request even inside the House, this is not only unprecedented but is also against the established parliamentary practice. It is against this, in which a senior MP like you is expert and adept. Dhankhar has written in the letter that making disruption a tool as part of political strategy is no less a sin than desecrating the temple of democracy.
A total of 46 MPs were suspended from Rajya Sabha
Earlier, Congress President Kharge had written a letter to Dhankhar on Friday saying that suspension of MPs on such a large scale is harmful to the basic principles of India’s parliamentary democracy. In a letter written to Dhankhar, he said that he is saddened and distressed by the suspension of so many MPs and is feeling dejected and disappointed. Earlier, Vice President Dhankhar had said in a letter to Kharge that paralyzing the House by making demands that cannot be accepted from the floor is unfortunate and against public interest. Let us inform that during the winter session, 46 MPs were suspended from Rajya Sabha due to inappropriate behavior and misconduct.
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