Let us raise issues, we’ll cooperate: Opposition

The Opposition would cooperate with the government in Parliament if the latter allows it to raise issues regarding unrest in university campuses, the Jat agitation in Haryana for reservation, attack of journalists, farmer suicides and price rise in the next five sittings. While the CPI(M)’s Sitaram Yechury has given a notice of amendments in the President’s address to the joint sitting of Parliament, the Opposition is pressing for a discussion under the calling attention and short duration discussion per week in the Rajya Sabha. At least two calling attention discussions should be accepted and one short duration discussion should be allowed in the Upper House, non-NDA leaders said. There are 16 sittings in the first part of the session which began on Tuesday. No business was taken up in both the Houses on Tuesday after the presidential address and there would be no business after the presentation of the Union Budget on February 29. While Fridays are reserved for private members bill, discussion on the President’s address could take two to three days while an equal number of days would be spent on discussion on the Budget and Railway Budget.

Therefore, only five to six days are left for issues that include the JNU row, atrocities on dalits, Jat stir, suicide by dalit scholar Rohith Vemula.