The Congress and other Opposition parties have decided not to be part of an inquiry committee that Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu wants to set up to investigate the acrimonious scenes that were witnessed on August 11 in the House during the passage of the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill.
Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge wrote to Naidu Thursday saying the constitution of the committee seems to be “designed” to “intimidate” MPs into silence. “It will not only suppress the voices of the people’s representatives but deliberately brush aside all those that are uncomfortable to the government,” Kharge wrote in the letter. “I am, therefore, unequivocally against constituting the enquiry committee and the question of a party proposing the name of a member from a party for nomination to this committee does not arise,” the letter added. His letter was in response to the phone call made by Mr. Naidu to him and to the other floor leaders of the Opposition parties. Sources said all the major Opposition parties, among them the Trinamool Congress, CPM, CPI, RJD, Shiv Sena, NCP and Aam Aadmi Party had too declined the offer.
The last two days of the monsoon session of Parliament on August 10 and August 11 saw violent protests by the Opposition. On August 11, in the dying hours of the disruption-hit monsoon session, some opposition MPs clashed with the marshals when the general insurance amendment bill was cleared amid furious protests.
