Lok Sabha floor leaders agree to debate on 150 yrs of Vande Mataram, poll reform

IN a breakthrough, the Lok Sabha base leaders on tues in agreement(p) to a give-and-take on 150 years of Vande Mataram, followed by a two-day deliberate on electoral reform, a key demand of the Opposition parties.“All parties have agreed to have a discussion on 150 years of Vande Mataram next Monday. On December 8 and 9, the discussion on electoral reforms will take place,” said K Suresh, the Congress’s chief whip in the Lok Sabha. Suresh added that Trinamool Congress too did not object to the plan.The government was keen to have a debate on 150 years of Vande Mataram before taking up the short-duration discussion on electoral reforms or Special Intensive Revision (SIR). Follow Parliament winter session live updatesThe floor leaders agreed to the Vande Mataram discussion at a meeting chaired by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. The agreement is expected to help ensure a better functioning of the ongoing winter session in the Lok Sabha. The Rajya Sabha floor leaders are yet to decide the schedule of debates.The winter session began on a fractious note on Monday as Opposition parties demanded an immediate debate on electoral reform and disrupted business, despite the government’s assurance that it would consider the proposal.Earlier on Tuesday, there was no breakthrough at the meeting between the government and the Opposition parties on a discussion on SIR. Parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju, who met leaders of Congress, Trinamool Congress (TMC), Samajwadi Party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Communist Party of India (Marxist), and Aam Aadmi Party on Tuesday, said the discussion will take place, but the Opposition cannot insist on the timeline.Opposition leaders said there is no clarity on when the discussion on the issue will be taken up. “We told the government that they should come and announce that the discussion on SIR will be taken up on Wednesday in the Lok Sabha and then the Rajya Sabha… but they are not doing that,” TMC leader Derek O’Brien said after the meeting.Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said there was no assurance from the government on the timeline of when the discussion will be taken up. “There is a huge trust deficit which is simply unbridgeable owing to how the government behaves with the Opposition,” he said.The Opposition rallied to push for a discussion on the SIR. In the Rajya Sabha, TMC, Congress, and DMK lawmakers trooped into the Well, raising slogans demanding an assurance on when the discussion will be taken up on the issue. They pointed out that as many as 28 Block Level Officers involved in SIR had passed away.An Opposition leader, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the government was keen on a discussion on Vande Mataram first and then take up SIR. “They want to push the discussion on SIR to next week when there will barely be time to take up the important issue,” the leader said.