Janata Dal (United) on Thursday issued a three-line whip to the party’s Rajya Sabha MPs, including Deputy Chairman of the House Harivansh, to support the party stand to vote against the bill to replace ordinance on control of services in Delhi when it is brought up in the House by the government in the monsoon session of Parliament. Deputy Chairman Harivansh has received a party whip for the first time during his entire tenure, his office told ANI.
Aneel Prasad Hegde, Chief Whip of JD(U) in the Rajya Sabha, said all MPs have been issued a whip. “We have issued a whip to all our MPs. I will need to check if this was sent earlier as well to the Deputy Chairman. All MPs have been issued a whip. This time I am the Chief Whip of the party and the whip has been issued to all five Rajya Sabha MPs of the party.” A whip to Deputy Chairman Rajya Sabha, which is a constitutional post, is highly unusual.
Former Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien told ANI that this should not have been done. He said role of Deputy Chairman is that of an umpire. “I was never given a whip by my party to vote in any direction. Since I was in a constitutional post, I was given full freedom to do my duty. Parties do not send a whip to the Deputy Chairman as he is an umpire,” Kurien said.
The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023, seeks to replace the ordinance brought by the Centre in May which excluded ‘services’ from the legislative competence of the Delhi legislative assembly. The ordinance was brought days after Supreme Court judgement on the control of services in Delhi.
The three-line whip has been issued to JD-U MPs is applicable from July 27 to August 11, when the monsoon session of Parliament will conclude.
JD(U) is part of 26-party opposition alliance which has been named I.N.D.I.A