In separate communications to Birla on November 9, some opposition MPs said they believed following their meeting with him on November 5 that the five-state tour of the Joint Committee of Parliament headed by BJP MP Jagdambika Pal may be deferred as there is no ‘immediate urgency’ to submit the panel’s report, sources said.Opposition members in their letters to Birla have expressed dismay and surprise at the tour, noting that his meeting in Guwahati had only five members, ‘far less’ than even the quorum.They have boycotted the tour.Those who have written to the Speaker include DMK’s A Raja, Congress’s Mohammad Jawed and TMC’s Kalyan Banerjee, sources said.Pal said as the committee’s chairman he is not feeling good about the boycott of opposition MPs who were part of its earlier study tour across southern states, noting that his only motivation is to record the views of a maximum of stakeholders as many of them cannot come to Delhi.Asked if he was certain that the committee will meet its deadline, Pal said he was “absolutely certain”.Opposition MPs in their letters to the Speaker said they believed after meeting him that the committee’s meetings will now be held either one day in a week or two consecutive days in a fortnight to allow them to prepare and study the submissions made in its sittings, the sources said.They said they received a ‘ray of hope’ that their grievances would be addressed, they added.However, Pal went ahead with the tour to their dismay and surprise, they said.This is the third coordinated communication these MPs have made to Birla, targeting Pal’s way of functioning.”We like to point out the Chairman of JPC has reduced the proceedings to a mockery in complete breach of constitutional morality and well-established parliamentary practices,” said an opposition MPs’ letter of November 9.Expressing disappointment at the charge of the opposition MPs, Pal claimed that there is ‘no bigger democrat’ than him as he pointed out that he has repeatedly allowed them to raise as many points and ask as many questions in its meetings as they wanted.”Ask Asaduddin Owaisi (AIMIM), who attends the committee’s meetings with a lot of preparations. I have always allowed him to make his points. Or be it Syed Naseer Hussain (Congress) or Kalyan Banerjee (TMC)… There is no point in boycotting study tours in which we merely record stakeholders’ views,” he said.
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