The Congress, Samajwadi Party (SP) and Trinamool Congress (TMC) boycotted the customary meeting with Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla after the acrimonious monsoon session of Parliament ended on Thursday.
A Congress leader said the three parties decided not to attend the courtesy meeting. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and other top leaders attended the meeting. “We have nothing against the Speaker. But we wanted to avoid joining the meeting as nothing substantial was discussed in the session. Bills were passed in din. Our demand for debates on police excess against students and donation theft in Ayodhya remained unfulfilled,” said the leader.
Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition, has not attended these meetings over the past few sessions. In December, Congress lawmaker Priyanka Gandhi Vadra joined the customary meetings over tea and interacted with Modi over issues of Kerala and Wayanad, her parliamentary constituency, in the southern state.
The TMC boycotted the Thursday meeting as its petitions to Birla for the disqualification of the 20 defectors remain pending. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam attended the meeting.
The monsoon session was largely washed out, with the Opposition insisting on Shah’s statement in the House over allegations of police excesses and the use of pellet guns during the July 20 protest march, demanding then Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation.
