Centre’s failures: BRS MPs boycott President Murmu’s address to Parliament

NEW DELHI: Members of Parliament of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) on Tuesday boycotted President Droupadi Murmu’s address to the joint session of Parliament in protest against the Centre’s policies and failures. Sixteen MPs of the BRs and 10 representing the Aam Aadmi Party refrained from the customary address of the President to members of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha before the Parliament budget session.

This was the first-ever address of Droupadi Murmu to a joint sitting of MPs since her elevation to the coveted position. Speaking to the media later, BRS Parliamentary Party Leader K Keshava Rao clarified that their protest was not aimed against the President but was meant to resent the failures of the Narendra Modi-led NDA Government at the Centre on all fronts.

Even as the session began at 11 am, the MPs of BRS and AAP abstained from the President’s speech in the Central Hall of the Parliament.

BRS supremo and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) on Sunday gave direction to his party’s MPs on how to expose the Centre’s follies and anti-people policies during the course of the Parliament Budget Session. He exhorted them to join forces with like-minded parties and carry on with their fight as part of a concerted strategy.

Echoing the same mood, BRS Parliamentary Party leader K Keshava Rao on Monday mooted debate on a host of issues during the Budget session. He, along with party’s leader in Lok Sabha Nama Nageswara Rao, attended an all-party meeting presided over by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi on Monday.

During this meeting, Keshava Rao referred to the misuse of the institution of Governors because of which many states including Telangana, Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Kerala were facing problems. He also demanded that a detailed debate be held in Parliament on the federal system and its spirit that is increasingly being dented.

The BRS MPs also vowed to question the NDA Government at the Centre on a host of issues of public interest. They demanded debate on the system of governors and their growing interference with the functioning of democratically-elected governments in the country.