Meiras moment

MPs are excited about the special sitting of both the Houses to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the first sitting of Parliament and so is Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar

Written by Express News Service

May 12, 2012 03:54 AM IST

3 min read

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MPs are excited about the special sitting of both the Houses on Sunday to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the first sitting of Parliament and so is Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar. One gets to hear that Kumar was keen to participate in the debate themed Sixty Years Journey of the Indian Parliament as an ordinary MP. But,with procedural issues like whether the Deputy Speaker can preside over a sitting of the House in the presence of the Speaker cropping up,a formula has been worked out. On Sunday,Kumar will initiate the debate on tasks for Parliament. That way,she will be able to participate in the debate.

SPOKESMEN… AND WOMEN

THE Congress may have dissociated itself from party MP Meenakshi Natarajans controversial private members Bill seeking to regulate the electronic and print media,but the party leadership is now considering her name as a likely spokesperson. This comes as the ruling party prepares to revamp the panel of spokespersons after Abhishek Manu Singhvi was dropped from it in the wake of the CD controversy. Natarajan,a close aide of Rahul Gandhi,is perceived to have good oratory skills in Hindi. Others being considered as Congress spokespersons are former Union Minister Gurudas Kamat and party MP PC Chacko who heads the Joint Parliamentary Committee looking into the 2G spectrum scam.

DIVISION BILL

TARUN Vijay,the BJP Rajya Sabha MP from Uttarakhand,has introduced a private member Bill in the upper house which aims to reform the social structure,but could well end up creating a stir within his party. Vijays Bill seeks to give constitutional rights to train children of the Valmiki community and make them temple priests. Saying that he wants to uplift the Valmiki community in society through such a legislative step,Vijay seems to be unmindful of the controversy that he can create within the BJP,which traditionally has had an upper caste vote base. The BJP MP had earlier called for Dalit children to be taught Vedas in Uttarakhand ashrams,which had not gone down well with the core BJP constituents in the hill state.

BELATED AWAKENING

The BSP,which champions the cause of Dalits,was on Friday caught off guard when the lone MP of a Tamil Nadu party which supports UPA raised the issue of the B R Ambedkar cartoon in Lok Sabha. The BSP members immediately could not realise the potential of the issue. They were in for another surprise when SP members joined VCK MP Thol Thirumaa Valavan and rushed to the well of the House. BSP members took some time to figure out that the issue was about an insulting cartoon of the Dalit icon,and did not waste much time after that in joining the SP members in the well. BSP members in the Upper House tried to make up for it. After colleagues from Lok Sabha alerted them,BSP members led by Brajesh Pathak rushed to Rajya Sabha and disrupted the proceedings. Even their leader Mayawati rushed to Parliament after the Upper House was adjourned thrice in the pre-lunch session. She took up the issue as soon as the House met after the lunch break.

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