Piyush issues warning to BJP MPs for bunking Rajya Sabha

New Delhi: Union Minister and Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha, Piyush Goyal, while chiding around 23 BJP MPs who were absent from the House on different occasions, has instructed them to be always present in the Upper House during the proceedings.

According to sources, Piyush Goyal called these MPs to his office in the Parliament House and gave strict instructions that no excuses will be entertained for their absence from the House. If sources are to be believed, Piyush Goyal while instructing them to be always present in the House during the proceedings of the Rajya Sabha, even told these MPs of the party to go for lunch only during lunch time.

During the Monsoon Session of Parliament, the government has to pass many important bills related to the rights of the Delhi government from the Rajya Sabha where the government does not have a majority. The government always wants to be present in the Rajya Sabha in full numbers as opposition parties have been attacking the Centre over several issues in the ongoing Parliament Session. Goyal and Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday exchanged barbs at each other in the Rajya Sabha over the debate on Manipur, with Kharge demanding the presence of PM Modi and Goyal saying atrocities on women in Opposition-ruled states will also be discussed in the House. The Opposition raised an uproar from the start of the Question Hour when the House met at noon, with members of the Congress and other like-minded parties raising slogans “Manipur, Manipur”. Kharge said over 50 members have given notices for discussion on the Manipur issue under rule 267, but the government is not ready.