MPs can’t go abroad during sessions

NEW DELHI: Irked by the callous attitude of MPs and Union ministers in flying to foreign climes at the drop of a hat, Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee issued a strict diktat on Wednesday that the members will have to take his permission before they go abroad during Parliament sessions.

The speaker, who has always been critical of the ministers’ foreign jaunts, was even more livid in the wake of reports of some MPs travelling abroad with girlfriends instead of spouses and the instances of human trafficking by some like BJP member Babubhai Katara misusing their parliamentary privileges. Katara was arrested trying to take a woman to the US on his diplomatic passport.

During the budget session, the speaker had written to the prime minister that when Parliament is in session no minister should be allowed to go abroad without prior permission from the chair.

With a view to curb the tendency of a number of ministers and bureaucrats fixing some official meetings at foreign locations especially during the summer to escape the scorching Delhi heat, the prime minister had then directed them to stay put in the capital during the budget session.

“The prime minister apparently does not want the ministers to be out in foreign climes when Parliament is bracing up for the crucial session where important financial and reform bills are to be discussed and passed,” parliamentary affairs minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi had said.

Even as the speaker asked the ministers and MPs not to travel out of the country, CPI leader in the Lok Sabha Gurudas Dasgupta made a scathing attack on prime minister Manmohan Singh for going abroad during the winter session commencing on Thursday.

The PM is leaving for Singapore on November 19 to attend the ASEAN summit and thereafter will go to Uganda for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meet. “The prime minister is showing disrespect to Parliament. During the session he is going to Singapore and Venezuela,” Dasgupta said, adding, “We protest the attitude of disrespect shown to Parliament by the prime minister.”

The CPI leader said in Jawahar Lal Nehru’s time no minister was allowed to go out of the country during a Parliament session.

“This is shocking, within a short period of 10 days the prime minister is going abroad twice. This session (ending December 7) is too brief, minus holidays and Fridays (being private member day) the House will sit effectively only for 13 days,” he said.

“This is a mock session of Parliament,” said an agitated Dasgupta. He said he would move a constitutional amendment making it mandatory for the House to meet 100 days in a year.

The speaker, however, absolved the prime minister, saying as the head of the state he has to represent the country. “The prime minister cannot avoid travelling as he is required to represent the country,” Chatterjee said.

He, however, said all senior ministers should be present during the debate on the Indo-US nuclear deal in Parliament in the absence of the prime minister. Chatterjee issued the diktat after a luncheon meeting with leaders of various political parties.