NEW DELHI, Aug 19:
Rajya Sabha will now have Zero Hour daily to avert disruptions, but a fresh move to shift the Question Hour in the Upper House failed to materialise with BJP and some other parties opposing it at an all-party meeting convened by Chairman Hamid Ansari.
So far, the Rajya Sabha was having Zero Hour on alternate days, but several leaders suggested that it should be made a daily affair to help members raise important issues.
The proposal was to shift the Question Hour to 12:00 hours and the Zero Hour to 11 AM, so as to ensure that the House has a smooth running without any disruptions.
Apparently exasperated over frequent disruptions, Ansari had called the all-party meet to discuss possible changes in rules for smooth running of the House.
Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley while opposing the proposal told the meeting that it was a political House and which needed to be run by political flexibility and that it was not a classroom which could be run through regimentation, sources said.
At the meeting, the representatives gave Ansari an assurance that Question Hour will not be henceforth disrupted and allow legislative business during the remaining part of the Monsoon Session.
Besides Jaitley, BJP’s Ravi Shankar Prasad, Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M), Sanjay Raut (Shiv Sena), Brajesh Pathak (BSP), V Maitreyan (AIADMK), Kanimozhi (DMK), Y S Chowdary (TDP) and Naresh Gujral (SAD) were among others present.
Sources close to Ansari said the new system will be exercised on an experimental basis till the remaining period of the current session and in case of violations, another all-party meeting will be convened.
Ansari had last week wondered whether members wish the House to become a “federation of anarchists”, a remark that had drawn flak from members. (PTI)
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