Senior CPI(M) leader, Rajya Sabha member and general secretary of the party, Sitaram Yechuri said the Opposition has served a notice for moving a contempt motion against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not attending Thursday's Rajya Sabha Parliamentary Session proceedings after the brief lunch break, leading to uproar by opposition leaders.
Image: ANI
Yechury said the damage to the economy is increasing on a daily basis due to demonetisation and that PM Modi's presence is mandatory for discussing and finding an apt solution to the quandary.
In television interviews, Yechury said that even previously when demands were made for the prime minister’s presence in the Rajya Sanha –for instance when the 2G Scam needed to be discussed and Dr Manmohan Singh was prime minister-he had sat and listened to the debates in the Rajya Sabbha for more than four days. So why can’t Modi o so now?
Citing reports from the industry and from the Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC), he said that four lakh people—from three of the biggest sectors— have lost their jobs in the last one week after demonetisation.
He further highlighted that approximately 31.9 million daily wage workers, employed in textiles and garments sectors, are not getting payment due to the currency ban.
He said, "In this sort of a situation, we only want the government to help these people get their daily wages."
Similar to unsuccessful sessions over the past few days, today's parliamentary session was no different, after a short span of constructive debate in the morning. The session in the upper house was adjourned on a bitter note, which left the opposition parties aggravated yet again.