The Treasury and the Opposition on Friday broadly agreed to restore normalcy in Parliament next week with a discussion on Operation Sindoor, but the cloud of further disruptions loomed with the government remaining non-committal on a debate on the special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar.
“All parties have agreed that they will ensure a smooth functioning of the House from Monday. I hope the parties will stick to their commitment…,” parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju said after meetings with Opposition leaders.
Rijiju said a discussion on the Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor would start in the Lok Sabha on Monday, followed by the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. “The time allotted for the discussion is 16 hours in each House,” he said.
Speaker Om Birla first held an all-party meeting to break the deadlock, then Rijiju called on Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, the leaders of the Opposition in the two Houses. While Rijiju’s outreach was aimed at discussing the government-Opposition joint motion in the Lok Sabha for the removal of Justice Yashwant Varma, sources said Rahul stressed the demand for a debate on the poll roll revision.
Rijiju indicated that the government would think of a debate on the roll revision only after the discussion on Operation Sindoor was over in the Houses.
“All issues can’t be discussed together. The Opposition has raised several issues, like the SIR in Bihar. We have told them that Operation Sindoor will be discussed first, then we will decide which issues could be discussed according to the rules,” Rijiju said.
Judge impeachment
Rijiju said the proceedings to remove Justice Varma would start in the Lok Sabha and not the Rajya Sabha. Justice Varma has been accused of possessing unaccounted cash at his official residence. Sources claimed that the Opposition’s motion in the Upper House had been “submitted” but not “admitted”.