The suspension of 25 Congress members and subsequent boycott by Congress and several other opposition parties had its echo in the Lok Sabha again today, with a BJP member pleading for efforts to persuade them to attend the proceedings.
Hukum Singh raised the issue while participating in a debate on supplementary demand for grants, noting that the situation was not happy in the House with several seats being vacant.
"We need to convince them (Opposition) to sit in the House and participate in the discussions. The government and the party (BJP) is trying...But we should continue with our efforts," he said.
Government should make an attempt to persuade Congress and other parties to join and participate in discussions as the House is incomplete without them, he added.
Opposition parties like SP, RJD and NCP today walked out of the Lok Sabha as members of the Congress, TMC and other parties continued boycott of the House for the second consecutive day protesting the suspension of 25 Congress members. Members of the Left parties and Muslim League members were also not present.
Tathagata Satpathy (BJD) had made a similar plea yesterday.
Raising issue of clean drinking water, Singh said the government should target that by 2019 every person should get clean drinking water in the country.
"If we do a survey of water, the situation of drinking water is not good in rural areas. Is it possible for us to fix a target that we can construct water tanks in every village so that they can get clean drinking water," he added.
Singh also raised the problems faced by shopkeepers, vendors and hawkers in banks for taking loans. Middlemen are present outside every bank and there is a need to deal with them, he said, adding that the banks "need to change their thinking, culture and thought process (towards small shopkeepers and vendors).
