Congress leader Manickam Tagore responded to Union Minister Piyush Goyal's statement on the opposition parties' no-confidence motion against the government. Amid protests in Parliament over the Manipur issue Lok Sabha has been adjourned till 2 pm and Rajya Sabha has been adjourned till 12 pm.
Piyush Goyal reportedly said, "We have more than two-third majority in the House. It's the prerogative of the Speaker when the discussion will be held, but that doesn't mean all other affairs will be withheld" to which Tagore replied saying, "He (Piyush Goyal) should advise the PM to come to Parliament and stop lecturing opposition parties."
INDIA bloc meeting in Parliament
A group of 21 legislators from the opposition bloc visited the war-torn state of Manipur over the last two days and on Monday they met with the rest of their leaders to brief about the observations and experience they had.
The leaders discussed the ground realities as they met at the Parliament House.
According to the reports, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who was part of the delegation, described the situation in Manipur as "grave".
He said, "If any of the ruling party MPs go there and see the situation for themselves, they will not make casual statements."
Trinamool Congress leader Sushmita Dev who also visited Manipur told the media, "BJP leaders are saying that it (opposition's Manipur visit) was tourism, I would request them to visit Manipur."
CPI leader P Santhosh Kumar after returning from Manipur told PTI, "This was my second visit (to Manipur). The last one was some 20 days ago. Even now, nothing has changed. Complete hopelessness is the order of Manipur today."
Sonia Gandhi, the chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party, and Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge were present during the meeting, along with the leaders of various INDIA bloc parties.
The opposition has been demanding a discussion on the Manipur violence in both Houses and a statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Parliament.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh took to Twitter to compare the current situation with the past when Bharatiya Janata Party was in opposition and often disrupted the function of the House, he said, "When the BJP was in Opposition it often didn’t allow the House to function till the then PM Dr. Manmohan Singh made a statement, which he usually did."
They plan to increase pressure on the government regarding the issue and intend to request a statement from the Prime Minister, along with a detailed discussion.
