New Delhi, May 06: The CPI(M) today lashed out at the BJP-led NDA for not only boycotting Parliament but also "obstructing" its work by cancelling a scheduled meeting of the standing committee on rural development which is studying the crucial legislation on guaranteeing employment in rural areas.
"The Opposition has become a prisoner of parliamentary tactics.... It is an absolutely mindless decision to boycott the House, but the cancellation of a scheduled meeting of the standing committee on rural development to discuss the crucial national rural employment guarantee bill by the chairman (Kalyan Singh) on grounds that his party is boycotting Parliament is serious," CPI(M) leader Nilotpal Basu told reporters here.
Maintaining that the post of chairman of a parliamentary committee was non-political, he said, "The post is being misused to block a major bill. The very foundation of the parliamentary system is being questioned.”
Following letters by several mps, including Hannan Mollah of CPI(M), Kalyan Singh convened a meeting on the bill on May 5 and 6. "But on May 4, he cancelled the meeting saying being a member of BJP, he cannot hold the meeting,” he said.
Following advertisements in the media by the committee, "hundreds of responses and suggestions have come on the bill which have to be considered by the panel,” Basu said.
Bureau Report
