RAJYA Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar walked out of a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) on Friday, with House sources saying that a “lack of decorum” was the reason, but Opposition members claimed he left midway due to sharp differences between them and ruling MPs on issues to be taken up. According to an Opposition leader, the Chairman walked out due to disagreements between ruling and Opposition members over the demand for a discussion on “duplicate” voter id (EPIC) numbers, and sending bills for scrutiny by parliamentary committees. Rajya Sabha sources, however, insisted the EPIC (Electors Photo Identification Card) issue was not discussed. They said Dhankhar decided to walkout as the Government and Opposition members refused to budge from their respective positions on these issues.

 

The BAC meeting was called to decide the business for the Upper House for the coming week. According to the senior Opposition leader quoted above, their MPs wanted the Government to fix the time for debates on issues like EPIC cards, the Manipur situation scrutiny of bills. Opposition leaders insisted they are giving notices everyday for discussions on different issues, however, no time was being allotted for those. The Opposition MPs stressed while they supported Government business, the issues they are seeking to discuss are not being listed, leading to a standoff between the rival members.

 

Amid the disagreement, the Chairman walked out of the meeting, the leader said. Another Opposition leader, meanwhile, said they have conveyed to the Chairman that they are flexible on the rules under which discussion on EPIC can be held, as well as the wording of the notice, but the discussion should be taken up. The Trinamool Congress, which has been raising the issue continuously in the House with multiple MPs giving notices almost every day, has warned of protests if the debate is not take up in Parliament.