NEW DELHI: Many Congress MPs cutting across state lines on Wednesday told the party leadership that they should use the Parliament floor to put across their points of view on issues and disruptions should only be in exceptional circumstances, reiterating the point they made on the first day of the winter session at a strategy meeting.
As Sonia Gandhi met party MPs state wise to discuss the winter session and seek their views on future, it is learnt that members in the Kerala and Tamil Nadu group said the party should join the proceedings as a rule. Some MPs said protests can be resorted to in important situations, with SIT report on Lakhimpur Kheri and the demand for the resignation of junior home minister Ajay Mishra Teni being one such case. Otherwise, they felt that it was a waste of time, an MP in the meeting said. Some Lok Sabha members have been arguing lately that their views, and not just of the Rajya Sabha wing, should be taken into account on strategy.
The leadership had agreed with the views of the members, as a result of which the LS functioned normally despite the pressure of boycott over the suspensions in RS. However, the SIT report on Kheri massacre forced the party to protest. Sources said even the DMK and TMC were in favour of pressing for Teni’s resignation. In RS too, the party joined the debates in the first week till the government refused to relent on suspensions and there was pressure from suspended members to protest.
One Tamil Nadu MP told Sonia that the opposition was being sidetracked by multiple provocations being thrown by the government.