Congress, Trinamool reject BJP offer to end Parliament deadlock

Media reports coming out of the Winter Parliament suggest that the BJP has been making overtures towards Opposition leaders with the aim of back-channel talks to get Parliament activity going again. However the Opposition leaders rejected the offer and renewed demands to reinstate suspended MPs according to an NDTV report.

Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjuna Kharge wrote to Mr Joshi, calling his invitation to just four Opposition parties "unfair and unfortunate". Rajya Sabha chairman Venkaiah Naidu had asked the opposition and the government to meet and reach an understanding on the issue. A final decision will be taken today.

Trinamool MP Derek O'Brien tweeted that the "failed stunt" by the Central government was an attempt to exclude the other 10 Opposition parties from the dialogue. The four parties which the ruling BJP had reached out to include the Congress, Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena and CPI, all of whom have had MPs suspended.

The impasse has hit the functioning of both houses. In the third week of the Winter Session, the productivity of Rajya Sabha hit a low of 37.60 per cent - pulling down the functionality of the House for the first three weeks to 46.70 per cent.

O'Brien also called for an end to the tensions by revoking the "arbitrary suspension" of the MPs, six of whom are from the TMC. The BJP had earlier admitted that the MPs could not be suspended for behaviour displayed in the last session under Rajya Sabha rules and has expressed willingness to reinstate them given a few conditions were fulfilled.

"They want the suspended members to apologize one by one in the House but they are not going to do anything of that sort," Kharge said.

Among those suspended are six MPs from the Congress, two each from Trinamool Congress and Shiv Sena, and two from the Left parties - one each from CPI and CPM.