Shubhadeep Choudhury
New Delhi, July 27
The issue of ethnic violence in Manipur continues to dominate the monsoon session of Parliament with the Opposition today announcing to send a team of 15 MPs to the strife-torn state on Saturday.
Mumbai meeting of Oppn parties on Aug 25-26
The next meeting of INDIA parties will be held in Mumbai on August 25-26, it is learnt. This will be the third meeting of the Opposition combine after the first two meetings held in Patna and Bengaluru. Top leaders are expected to finalise the names for the coordination committee, secretariat and other panels in the Mumbai meeting. TNS
“A team of 15 MPs representing various opposition parties belonging to INDIA coalition will be going to Manipur on Saturday for a two-day visit. The details are being worked out,” a Congress leader said. To extend solidarity and oppose the “atrocities”, a delegation ofINDIA MPs would visit the strife-torn state, the Trinamool Congress tweeted. At least three Opposition outfits—Congress, Left Front and TMC—have earlier sent teams to Manipur, which included a high-profile visit by former Congress president Rahul Gandhi. Having failed to persuade PM Modi to speak on the Manipur issue in Parliament or discuss the matter by suspending all listed business, the Congress has given notice for a no-confidence motion. Thursday began with opposition parties boycotting a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) of the Rajya Sabha, headed by Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar , to protest the PM’s alleged silence.
The pre-lunch session of the Rajya Sabha saw two adjournments. The first took place soon after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar finished reading a statement on the latest foreign policy developments. Opposition members, who were wearing black clothes in protest over the unrest in Manipur, tried to interrupt Jaishankar as they pressed their demand for a discussion on Manipur. The din prompted Leader of the House Piyush Goyal to intervene and launch a sharp attack on the Opposition. “The Opposition’s yesterday was black, their today is black and their future is black too. These people in black clothes cannot understand how India’s power is on the rise. Their hearts are black, and they are wearing black,” Goyal said, attracting huge applause from treasury benches.
When Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar asked Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge to speak, members from the treasury benches started shouting, prompting the Chairman to adjourn the House for 15 minutes (till 12 noon). When the House proceedings resumed, the chair again invited Kharge to speak. But Kharge was again interrupted by ruling party MPs.