Manipur issue: RS logjam likely to end as govt, Opposition agree to find way forward

Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Derek O’Brien on Thursday (August 3) told the Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar that he wished to appeal to the Leader of the House Piyush Goyal, through the Chair, to find a way to end the logjam on the Manipur issue.

O’Brien said that the Opposition parties were only demanding a 6-8 hours debate on Manipur.

Dhankhar replied that he had already admitted a short-duration discussion on the issue, and had also indicated that the two-and-a-half-hour time bar for such a discussion would not apply to the Rule 176 discussion on Manipur.

Also read: Manipur ground report: How 3 months of mayhem has affected daily life

Piyush Goyal welcomed O’Brien’s suggestion and said that he would take Home Minister Amit Shah’s input on when he would be available to participate in the discussion. He invited senior Opposition leaders to discuss over tea how to take things forward.

He hinted that the Manipur discussion could be held on Tuesday (August 8) since Friday is reserved for private members’ Bills, and Monday is reserved for legislative business transacted from the Lok Sabha.

Dhankhar invited the floor leaders to his chambers for tea at 1 pm to come to a decision.