Parliament LIVE: Talks with Pakistan restarted on basis of trust, Sushma Swaraj

LIVE UPDATES

4.30 pm: Last Parliament session did not function, current Session is also threatened with a wash out: Arun Jaitley in his blog.

3.40 pm: Rajya Sabha adjourned for the day.

3.30 pm: The way forward is only dialogue; hopes that ‘saboteurs’ will not provoke and affect the dialogue process, says Swaraj on Indo-Pak ties.

3.15 pm: There is a need to bridge the gulf in relations with Pakistan, hope that the dialogue will be uninterruptable, says Swaraj.

3.00 pm: Talks with Pakistan being re-started on the basis of trust, says External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in Lok Sabha.

2.40 pm: Rajya Sabha adjourned till 3pm amid protests from Congress and BSP.

2.15 pm: Sources say that the meetings between the two parties would continue later to end the stalemate over GST.

2.00 pm: The meeting between Union Ministers Arun Jaitley, Venkaiah Naidu and senior leaders of the Congress has ended. Stalemate continues.

1.20 pm: Govt hoping to end stalemate, push GST 

While both Houses of Parliament have been adjourned over various issues, Union Ministers Arun Jaitley and Venkaiah Naidu are currently meeting with senior Congress leaders including leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad, hoping to end the stalemate over what is clearly the government’s priority in Parliamentary agenda.

Jaitley is likely to impress upon the Opposition steps taken by his government to accomodate changes sought by the Congress in the GST legislation.

The BJP government is hopeful of passing the bill this Winter session if it is to bring the act into force next financial year.

12. 30 pm: Opposition stages walkout over Kerala ‘insult’

Congress, Left and Trinamool Congress MPs walked out of Lok Sabha this afternoon against what they term was the ‘exclusion’ of Kerala CM Oommen Chandy from a statue-unveiling function in Kerala where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the chief guest.

12.00 pm: Several notices were served, says Railways Minister Prabhu

Defending his Ministry’s decision to demolish a slum settlement in Delhi, Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu said in Parliament that the encroachers were served multiple notices asking them to vacate the area.

“I will meet with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal later today to discuss encroachments in other areas of Delhi and how to tackle it,” Prabhu said, adding that he and Kejriwal will discuss ways to rehabilitate displaced people in a humanitarian way. Prabhu also reiterated his Ministry’s stand that the six-month-old child had died before the demolition drive began.

Senior BJP MP and Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu urged Prabhu to ensure that such demolition drives do not take place during winter.

This shouldn’t have happened in winters, I’ve conveyed this to Railway Board Chairman-Venkaiah Naidu #ShakurBasti pic.twitter.com/aAxjjHdMJZ

— ANI (@ANI_news) December 14, 2015

Meanwhile, Rajya Sabha, where the Opposition and treasury benches have got into a verbal fight in the Well of the House, has been adjourned till 2 pm.

11.30 am: Rajya Sabha further adjourned till 12 pm

Unable to resolve the crisis, Kurien adjourned the house till 12 pm, after Members from both  – the Opposition and treasury benches – stormed the Well of the House over the law and order issue in Punjab.

While Kurien allowed a SAD MP to make a statement, the Opposition refused to relent.

“This is a self defeating exercise,” deputy chairman PJ Kurien tells sloganeering @INCIndia MPs in #RajyaSabha @IndianExpress

— abantika ghosh (@abantika77) December 14, 2015

11.10 am: Both Houses of Parliament adjourned after Opposition protests

Both Houses of Parliament saw protests by Opposition MPs on various issues forcing Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and Rajya Sabha Dy Chairperson PJ Kurien to adjourn proceedings.

Lok Sabha will resume at 12 pm while Rajya Sabha will reconvene at 11.30 am.

11.00 am: Uproar in Rajya Sabha as Sushma Swaraj makes statement
Briefing the House on her visit to Pakistan last week, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had to face the brunt of Opposition MPs who were heard chanting slogans against the BJP government all through her statement.

India hopes new dialogue with Pakistan marks a new beginning for peace and development in the region: @SushmaSwaraj

— The Indian Express (@IndianExpress) December 14, 2015

Since last week, Congress and Opposition MPs in Rajya Sabha have been targeting the government over what they call ‘political vendetta’. This, after a Delhi court summoned Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and her deputy Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald case. The Congress party has also raked up the Punjab government’s failure to maintain law and order in the state.

You are hijacking the House. It is most unfortunate, most undemocratic: Rajya Sabha Dy Chairperson PJ Kurien to Opposition MPs #Parliament

— The Indian Express (@IndianExpress) December 14, 2015

10.55 am: PM Modi has insulted the people of Kerala, says Rahul Gandhi

In a brief statement before the Parliament session commenced, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi said Prime Minister Modi insulted the people of Kerala by not allowing Chief Minister Chandy to attend a statue-unveiling event where he is the chief guest.

“The chief minister represents the voice of the people. Prime Minister Modi has insulted the people of Kerala,” Rahul Gandhi said, adding that it was ‘unacceptable’.

GST and National Herald
While the Congress party has rejected the charge that it was blocking the GST Bill because of the court summons to party president Sonia Gandhi and her deputy Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald case, the BJP continues to insist that there is a link between the two developments.

“I wish and pray that the GST (issue) is delinked (from the National Herald case),” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said when asked whether he sees any link between the two issues.

But former Finance minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said the ruling party was making a “bizarre link” and insisted the Congress has raised “genuine concerns” on the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

He rued that the opposition party has not received the “revised formulation” of the government on the issue after the party conveyed its suggestions on the bill to it.

On Sunday, Sonia Gandhi went into a huddle with senior party leaders at her 10, Janpath residence to chalk out the party’s strategy. Among those present in the meeting were Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and party’s deputy leader in the House Anand Sharma.

Delhi demolition drive

Residents affected by the demolition drive at the slums next to a railway line in Shaku Basti area on Sunday night. Express photo by Amit Mehra.

Also likely to take Parliament by storm is the demolition drive that took place in New Delhi on Saturday. Close to 500 shanties were razed to the ground at Shakur Basti. After the incident was reported, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and senior ministers rushed to the spot in the wee hours of Sunday to meet residents. Kejriwal suspended two Sub-Divisional Magistrates (SDMs) for what he called their failure to ensure the residents of the slum were provided proper rehabilitation facilities.

What makes matters worse for the Indian Railways, which carried out the demolition drive after issuing multiple notices, as they claim, is the death of a six-month-old child. Police reports have claimed that the child died as a pile of clothes was placed over her, leading to suffocation.

The Aam Aadmi Party, Janata Dal (United) and the Trinamool Congress have served notices in both Houses of Parliament to take up the issue for discussion at the earliest. AAP, however, does not have any representatives in the Upper House.

Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu is likely to make a statement in the House on the matter, but AAP MPs have decided to protest outside Parliament House before the session begins.

Kerala trouble

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy at the Indian Express Idea Exchange in New Delhi.Express photo by Ravi Kanojia

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Saturday claimed that Vellappally Natesan, the general secretary of Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam, had asked him to skip the unveiling of a former Congress CM’s statue by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to unveil the statue of former CM R Sanker in Kollam on Tuesday. The event is being organised by Yogam, a Hindu Ezhava outfit which has an alliance with the BJP. While organisers had reportedly invited Chandy to preside over the function initially, sources said Natesan didn’t want Chandy to turn up at the event. Congress circles have reacted to this by saying Natesan took the decision under duress from the BJP. Chandy’s colleagues in Parliament are likely to take up the issue and questioning Prime Minister Modi’s talk of federalism.

“This prima facie amounts to a disgraceful and petty insult to an elected Chief Minister of opposition-ruled state, a phenomenon that has now become characteristic and typical of the ruling BJP’s style of politics… It is not only a transgression of protocol, but also that of cooperative federalism that is constantly trumpeted by the Prime Minister and his colleagues,” Congress communication department head Randeep Surjewala said.