‘Opposition MPs in JPC to boycott next round of meetings’

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Kalyan Banerjee on Thursday said all Opposition members of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on Waqf Amendment Bill will boycott the next round of meetings beginning November 9.

Addressing the media at Kolkata Press Club, Banerjee alleged high-handedness and arbitrary action against JPC chairman Jagadambika Pal.

He said the chairman fixed a hectic schedule of meetings in Guwahati, Bhubaneswar, Kolkata, Patna and Lucknow over six days, with Sunday being a holiday in between. He also said it was informed that Bengal will see bypolls on November 13. Banerjee, who is also a member of the JPC, said all the Opposition members of the committee have decided to boycott the tour and its meetings.

He added that the Opposition members of the JPC met the Lok Sabha Speaker on November 5 and sought deferment of the schedule and also reduction in the number of days of meetings of the JPC from two days a week to one day a week or two consecutive days. Banerjee said the Speaker had verbally agreed to sympathetically consider their demands and speak to the chairman but nothing happened thereafter.