An official told HT that Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu summoned a senior leader of the opposition party on Friday to end the deadlock in which 12 members of the upper house were suspended. The development took place two days after Naidu’s meeting with several opposition leaders failed to make any progress.

The official, who asked not to be named, said that Naidu is keen to end the crisis that has stagnated the upper house’s proceedings in the past two weeks. He convened a senior congressional leader on Friday morning to discuss how to end the deadlock.

The phone conversation that lasted for a few minutes was seen as an important step towards restoring order in Rajya Sabha, with only 6 days left before the end of the parliamentary winter meeting.

The official told HT that the opposition leader who received Naidu’s call had sought a party meeting hosted by Naidu to solve the problem.

The deadlock continued, government officials demanded an apology from the suspended MPs, and the opposition party ruled out any such moves. On the contrary, they have been questioning the legality of the suspension. On Wednesday, Naidu’s meeting with opposition leaders ended abruptly after a major turn in the discussion. At the meeting, the opposition leader Malikajun Harg, the deputy leader of Congress Anand Sharma, the party’s chief whip, Jaram Ramesh, Sanjay Rath and Rasht of Schiff Senna The leader of Riya Janata Dar, Manoj Kumar Jaha, told Naidu that his predecessors, including Byron Singh Sekawa and Hamid Ansari, In the past, all-party meetings were held to solve problems.

An official who attended Wednesday’s meeting on condition of anonymity said: “Chairman [Rajya Sabha] pointed out that an all-party meeting will be held in due course. This means that if the suspended MPs or leaders of their respective political parties are unwilling Reflecting on your behavior and regretting it in an appropriate way, the meeting will be meaningless.”

Complete News Source : Hindustan Times