Separate walkouts by Congress and TMC in the Lok Sabha over skirmishes along the China border have exposed problems in Opposition floor coordination in Parliament.
As soon as the Question Hour ended, leader of the Congress party in the House Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who had moved an adjournment motion on the issue, sought a discussion on the matter.
Chowdhury said that when the India-China war had broken out in 1962, the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had given an opportunity to more than 160 MPs to speak on the matter in Parliament. The Congress and the NCP members then staged a walk-out.
But the TMC members remained seated. Later, when the Zero Hour began, TMC leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay sought a discussion on China, which was disallowed.
In protest, the TMC members staged a walk-out, while the Congress members remained seated along with NCP and DMK MPs
In the Rajya Sabha, however, there was a better show in terms of unity. As many as 17 opposition parties staged a walkout accusing the government of not holding a discussion over the December 9 clashes along the Line of Actual Control between the Indian and Chinese forces at the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh.
Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Aam Aadmi Party, MDMK, Communist Party of India (Marxist), CPI, Janata Dal-United, DMK, Trinamool Congress, and Telugu Desam Party were among the 17 parties that walked out from the House during ‘Zero Hour’.
With inputs from News18
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