Hardly had the din over the BJP-Sena picking on Speaker Somnath Chatterjee in the Lok Sabha died down, another chair’s abilities are being questioned. And this time it’s Congress MP Jairam Ramesh who’s trying to corner Rajya Sabha chairperson and Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat by suggesting that he didn’t manage the House properly in the last session. In a letter to Shekhawat on September 6, Jairam Ramesh wrote: ‘‘I felt most disappointed the way the last session of the Rajya Sabha turned out. A couple of members held the entire House to ransom. First termers rushed into the well repeatedly.’’ In the letter, he attacks Leader of Opposition Jaswant Singh for staying away from the House: ‘‘The Leader of Opposition was rarely present. discussions on important subjects were cancelled.’’ When contacted, Jairam Ramesh said his letter to Shekhawat was in his personal capacity as a first time RS member. ‘‘I was very disturbed at the way BJP and Shiv Sena MPs managed to disrupt the House. Important discussions relating to water resources, power and rural development had to be cancelled as were discussions on the demand for grants,’’ he said. In his letter, while criticising the way Rajya Sabha functioned, he has taken care not to take Shekhawat head-on: ‘‘I write to you in great anguish and am taking the liberty of doing so because of the high respect I have had for you for many years. I have always held you in great esteem and you are well aware of that.’’ He has even offered suggestions for better functioning: • Never allow the House to be adjourned. If there are contentious issues, let there be debate • If the House is to be adjourned in the rarest of rare circumstances, members must forfeit their salary and allowances for that day • Habitual disrupters should be admonished by the Chair and those named by the Chair should have their names displayed on the Notice Board • Any time lost on account of disruption must compulsorily be made up
