Lok Sabha members got no dinner for passing GST

When the Rajya Sabha passed the GST Amendment Bill, Union parliamentary minister of state Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi took special initiative to arrange a lavish dinner for the Rajya Sabha MPs for sitting till late in the House. However, Lok Sabha members did not get the same facility as the bill was expected to be passed very early in the Lower House. So, the parliamentary affairs ministry had made no arrangements for dinner for the Lok Sabha members.

However, the debate in the Lok Sabha went on longer than expected. Some of the members came with the impression that the parliamentary affairs ministry would arrange some special food for them. But to their dismay, they were told that no special food was arranged. Some of the members even went to the extent of saying that when the Rajya Sabha passed the GST Bill, many members did not wait for dinner because it was very late in the evening. However, the Lok Sabha timing for the passing the GST Bill was the perfect time for dinner. The parliamentary affairs ministry has now decided to arrange dinner for the MPs in future, for a similar occasion.

For smooth functioning of Parliament, Speaker sends SoS to finance minister

As it happened for the whole last week, MPs from Andhra YSR Congress held a demonstration on Monday inside the Lower House, demanding special status for Andhra Pradesh. Last week, BJP ally Telugu Desam MPs also joined the demonstration. However, after Andhra chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu came to Delhi and met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and got an assurance that their demand would be looked into, the TDP MPs decided to withdraw their agitation. No one gave any attention to the YSR Congress MPs.

Monday was an important day in the Lower House of Parliament for the passing of the GST Bill, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav could sense danger of the House getting disrupted because of the agitation. Immediately after the Question Hour, he stood up and drew the attention of the Speaker about the protesting MPs. Mr Yadav was quite critical of the government and the office of the Speaker for not attending to the agitating members. He said, from Day One of the Monsoon Session, these MPs were regularly protesting but no one was paying any attention to them. Getting support from the Samajwadi Party leader, the YSR Congress MPs started sloganeering more aggressively. The Speaker could sense the danger of disruption during the debate on GST Bill.

Immediately, she sent an SoS to the office of the finance minister. After getting the message, finance minister Arun Jaitley came rushing to the Lok Sabha and gave an assurance like the one he had already given to the TDP members about giving special status for the state of Andhra. The agitating YSR Congress MPs were satisfied and withdrew the agitation for time being. The Speaker happily adjourned the House. After lunch, the House started functioning smoothly and the finance minister introduced the GST Bill.

Mamata shows ‘mamta’ for wedding of Union minister Supriyo

Union minister of state Babul Supriyo is getting married on Tuesday in Delhi. For this, he has invited some of his family members other than the VVIPs. He was worried a little regarding the lodging of his guests. So, he requested West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee to arrange about 10 rooms in the state guest house, Bangabhavan, in Delhi. Ms Banerjee immediately obliged Babul, though he is a BJP member. Not only that, the chief minister directed the state government authorities to book the rooms as special guests of hers and to not charge tariff for any of this. All those guests of the Union minister will stay at the Bangabhavan free of cost. The chief minister even went to the extent of providing state government cars for ferrying the guests from the Bangabhavan to the venue. The Union minister was so moved by the gesture that he was telling almost everybody about this.

The writer is a senior journalist covering Parliament for 25 years.