Om Birla chairs meet to end impasse between Centre, Opposition

On the day the war of words between the Treasury and the Opposition benches continued to disrupt proceedings in Parliament, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Tuesday chaired an all-party meeting to end the “impasse”, sources said.
Further, sources said despite the efforts of the Speaker to end the logjam in Parliament, the Opposition parties refused to budge from their stand, demanding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi make a statement on the Manipur situation.
“In the all-party meeting, the government said it was ready for a discussion on the prevailing situation in Manipur,” a source said.
Birla urged all the leaders to discuss this issue with their respective parties, assuring that he would convene a similar meeting again.
Meanwhile, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi and Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal represented the Centre at the all-party meeting.
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury from Congress, Sudip Bandyopadhyay from Trinamool Congress, Supriya Sule from NCP, Anupriya Patel from Apna Dal (Soneylal), Lalan Singh from JD(U), TR Baalu from DMK, Farooq Abdullah from National Conference, Pashupati Paras from LJP, AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi, PR Natrajan from CPI (M), too, attended the meeting.
The Speaker convened the meeting after the Lok Sabha was adjourned till 2 pm.
Proceedings in the Lower House were suspended till 2 pm as the Opposition members continued to raise slogans demanding a discussion on Manipur and a statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Opposition members erupted in protest in the Lok Sabha after Question Hour began. Speaker Birla urged the Opposition members to return to their seats, adding that they should allow the House as Question Hour helps in fixing the accountability of the government.
Amid Opposition members holding up placards and raising slogans, the Speaker said such protests weren’t the solution to any problem and neither were they consistent with the parliamentary conventions and traditions.
The Speaker’s call to members to “maintain the dignity of the House”, however, fell on deaf ears as the Opposition members persisted with their protests. The House was eventually adjourned till 2 pm. The Congress and the other Opposition parties have been demanding that the treasury benches set aside all other listed businesses and hold a discussion on the Manipur situation. They were also adamant that PM Modi issue a statement in the Lower House on Manipur.
Both Houses have been seeing repeated adjournments over Manipur since the beginning of the Monsoon Session on July 20.
Earlier, on Tuesday, the Floor leaders of Opposition parties held a meeting to discuss their strategy to keep the up heat on the Centre in both Houses. The meeting was held at the office of the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and Congress national president, Mallikarjun Kharge.