Sonia Gandhi voices concern over truant Congress MPs

The hasty retreat of government on the Nuclear liability bill apparently weighing heavily on her mind, Congress president Sonia Gandhi today expressed concern over the absence of party MPs and asked them to take attendance in Parliament more seriously.
     
Gandhi, who is chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP), also wanted greater coordination between the floor managers and the members with a proper briefing on the Bills coming up before the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, party sources said.
     
Her observations at the first meeting of the newly-elected Executive Committee of the CPP came a day after the government decided at the last minute in the Lok Sabha to defer the introduction of the crucial nuclear liability bill fearing a "loss of face" with the opposition getting united.
     
Government had to beat a hasty retreat in view of the failure of 35 of its MPs, including some ministers to be present in the House. It feared that it could be defeated at that stage itself in the event of voting by division.
     
The absence of the MPs and ministers was glaring especially in view of a three-line whip that was already in place for a bill on archaeological monuments.
     
Those who were present in today's meeting included Suresh Kalmadi, Santosh Bagrodia, Pawan Singh Ghatowar, Rajeev Shukla and Sandeep Dikshit, Ponnam Prabhakar amongst others.

In the CPP meeting held on March 4, Gandhi indicated that the leadership will have to crack the whip if the MPs fail to be serious about their legislative duties.
   
"In almost all my addresses to you, I have felt compelled to refer to another issue, that of attendance.

Regular attendance is part of our basic duty and responsibility," she said, chiding the MPs who have a poor attendance in Parliament.
   
She said, "Even to sit and listen to Parliamentary proceedings is an education in itself. The time has come to take poor attendance on the part of the members seriously."