Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called on the Opposition to enable parliamentary democracy to deal with the challenges before the country. Pointing to the heavy legislative agenda, Dr Singh said, “I seek cooperation from my colleagues in the House to come together and address the issues and challenges that we face as a nation.” He added, “We all have an obligation, in Opposition as well as in government, to work together to enable our parliamentary democracy, of which we are genuinely proud of, to grapple with the formidable challenges facing our country.”
Calling upon the Opposition parties to join hands with the government the Prime Minister said, “We need to create new jobs on a large-enough scale to provide gainful employment to our youth. We need to increase investments in infrastructure sectors and social services like health and education to accelerate the tempo of economic growth. I invite all political parties to join hands in this vital national endeavour.”
Sitaram Yechury of the CPI(M) said that the parliamentary affairs minister has convened an all-party meeting to discuss the issue. He said, “The parliamentary affairs minister informed us in the Rajya Sabha Business Advisory Committee (BAC) that he will convene an all-party meeting on Monday. He also said he will talk to all party leaders in the Lok Sabha and meet them separately on that day. Then a final call will be taken on the issue.” He also clarified that there was no question of re-considering the stand of the party on the matter.
The issue also happens to be one which has brought about unity between the Left and the NDA. At a discussion organised by the small traders association, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, NDA convenor and JD-U leader Sharad Yadav and CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury shared the stage and made it clear that Parliament would not be allowed to function. Mr Jaitley said, “The government wants that this session should not function. That is why the government does not want voting on any of its policies. This is for the first time anywhere in the world that such a baseless argument is given by any government.”