A group of Parliamentarians, including industrialist Rahul Bajaj asked fellow MPs to come together to form an all-party national government and avoid snap elections.
NEW DELHI: Amidst talks of mid-term polls, a group of Parliamentarians, including industrialist Rahul Bajaj, on Monday asked fellow MPs to come together to form an all-party national government and avoid snap elections.
"Let us remember that we are the largest democracy in the world. We owe it to the people of India who elected us for five years to successfully complete our terms," the group of 10 MPs said in an open letter to their fellow MPs.
When contacted, Rajya Sabha member Rahul Bajaj told that the idea behind the call for an all-party government was to avoid a mid-term poll which would put financial burden on the country.
"It is to ensure that the current Lok Sabha lasts its full term," he added.
The letter said the estimated cost of conducting a mid-term poll now would be to the tune of Rs 2,700 crore, not counting the money that political parties themselves would spend during elections.
Asking for support to the suggestion once floated by former president R Venkataraman for an all-party national government, the letter appealed to Parliamentarians "to riseabove party lines (like we do so admirably in Parliamentary Committee), to place the nation before self and party and to think for the poorest in this country of ours."
Besides Bajaj, the signatories of the letter include Robert Kharsiingh, T R Zeliang, Mani Charenamei, Sanjay Raut, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Nakul Das Rai, KD Das, Thupstan Chhewang OT Lepcha and former MP Gen Shankar Roy chowdhury.
Citing the example of Germany where opposition parties have come together to form a grand coalition, the letter said, "Let us make history and take our governance to the greatest heights where we govern by consensus and not by confrontation."
It also said the credibility of MPs among the masses was dipping due to frequent disruptions in proceedings of Parliament.
"The Lok Sabha has lost 18 hours and 75 minutes in disruptions since it opened on August 10 for Monsoon Session. The cost of running Parliament is Rs 22,089 per minute, which means we have already lost Rs 3 crore in the endless wrangling," it said adding the "same paralysis is gripping the Rajya Sabha".
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