NDA MPs to protest at Parliament’s Makar Dwar today

New Delhi, July 23 (IANS) The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) MPs will stage a demonstration at Parliament’s Makar Dwar on Thursday to protest against the July 21 Congress sit-in near Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence over exam paper leaks.

The ruling alliance MPs are scheduled to stage the protest at 10:30 a.m.

A day earlier, the BJP alleged that Congress MP and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition (LoP), Rahul Gandhi, was running away from the duties of the Opposition and instead “only attempting to create a ruckus”.

LoP Gandhi, along with other senior Congress leaders and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, had staged a sit-in near PM Modi’s residence on Tuesday over the lathi charge on anti-NEET leak protesters, before being briefly detained by the police.

Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj said: “He (Rahul Gandhi) said that if the government is willing to discuss the issue in Parliament, then ‘we will leave the place’. Since it is the PM Modi-led government’s policy to seek solutions through dialogue, Union MoS Jitendra Singh reached there and tried to forge a communication with Rahul ji. But the Lok Sabha LoP retracted from his statement,” she said.

Moreover, the BJP MP claimed that no formal notice for a discussion on the paper leak was submitted by the Opposition in the House.

She said on Wednesday, “Today the ‘193’ notice was submitted in Parliament; even I submitted a notice seeking an open discussion on the NEET examination…because the government has nothing to hide and is in fact committed to students’ welfare. We are ready to answer the students of the country. But it seems that the Opposition is running away from its responsibilities.”

“Even the notice for discussion (on NEET) was submitted by the treasury benches and not by the Opposition. No formal notice was submitted by the LoP. The House does not function on anybody’s whims and fancies,” she remarked.

Swaraj stated that since Rahul Gandhi has the means to raise his voice in the House, he was asked to do so in a formal manner and get out of the high security zone near PM Modi’s residence, “but they don’t want to fulfil the role of the Opposition and instead only create ruckus”.

On Wednesday morning, the Opposition MPs had assembled outside the Parliament complex, clad in black to express their anger and protest against police brutality.

Various lawmakers from parties, including Congress, Samajwadi Party and Trinamool Congress, stood up together in a show of strength against police ‘brutality’ and the government’s handling of the students’ agitation at the Jantar Mantar and adjoining areas, where the group of protesters assembled to join the ‘Chalo Sansad’ march called by Cockroach Janata Party (CJP).

Further, the opposition leaders had said on Wednesday that the agitation will continue if the government doesn’t accept an adjournment motion in the Parliament.

–IANS

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