Alagiri remains absent, Oppn fumes, govt embarrassed

NEW DELHI: The UPA government found itself in a spot of discomfort on account of Union minister chemicals and fertiliser M K Alagiri’s absence during the Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha on Friday. While the minister’s absence during Question Hour is nothing new, it became yet another occasion to demonstrate Opposition unity in the House.

Mr Alagiri is a habitual absentee on account of his lack of facility in English and Hindi. However, on Friday, it wasn’t language problems that was keeping the minister away, Mr Alagiri is out of the country on a private visit.

Members led by AIADMk leader V Maitreyan protested when minister of state for chemicals and fertilisers Srikant Jena rose to answer a question relating to the performance of Hindustan Insecticides Limited. Mr Maitreyan and other AIADMK members wanted to know if the minister had sought permission to be absent from the House.

“I would like to know whether a minister who is normally absent from the House and is currently abroad, has taken the Chair’s permission before proceeding on leave. The House is in session and the minister is not present. The minister of state is replying. Has he taken your permission to go on a private visit?” the AIADMK leader asked.
Amidst protests and demands for answer, Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari said, “if you want to know the answer, come to my chamber and I will give it.”

But instead of calming matters, Mr Ansari’s answer only served to coalesce the Opposition benches. The situation quickly denigrated into a shouting match with the Treasury benches, with party colleague and telecommunications minister A Raja along with Congress MP Rajeev Shukla and others defending the absent minister Mr Ansari’s warning that “if these altercations continue, I will be forced to adjourn the House”, led to an intervention from the leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley.

The senior BJP leader said, “week after week the Opposition has been raising this issue. All ministers are accountable to Parliament. However, in this case, are we accepting the position that one minister is not accountable to Parliament. If this is the case, then we can proceed with Question Hour”.

The chairman accepted that it was “a wider issue, which needs to be discussed”, however “not during Question Hour.” Emphasising that this was an issue that had to be dealt with, Mr Jaitley said: “At some stage the chairman will have to see the fact that one minister is not accountable to the House.”

Mr Alagiri’s party colleague A Raja objected to the remark, and the government stepped in to defend the absence. Minister of state in prime minister’s office Prithviraj Chavan said that the reply was being given “as per procedures” and a deputy minister is authorised to reply to supplementaries.

A similar issue arose in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, at that time finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had said that Mr Alagiri was abroad and the rules permit the minister of state to answer questions related to the ministry.