'Never rushed to Well to stall House proceedings'

KOCHI: Retired Rajya Sabha member P Rajeeve today said he never rushed to the Well of the House to stall proceedings but by effective Parliamentary intervention.

"I have never rushed to the Well to stall the House proceedings but I have done it by making effective Parliamentary intervention," said Rajeeve, who was given a grand farewell yesterday by his colleagues in absentia.

"You need not troop into the Well to stall proceedings of the House. One can stall the proceedings of the House through effective parliamentary intervention on real issues concerning the people and the country," the CPI(M) leader said at a Meet the Press Programme organised by Ernakulam Press Club here.

He was responding to queries on his six year experience as a Rajya Sabha member.
Rajeeve, who has not been nominated by his party for a second term, said Rajya Sabha proceedings were stalled on more than 10 occasions due to the serious nature of the issues raised by him.

He narrated how the then UPA government was forced to defer introduction of a bill in Rajya Sabha for setting up an agriculture university in Bundelkhand region in 2011 after he argued that as per the Union List, the Central Government had no right to bring a legislation for incorporation of a university.

"I did not troop into the Well of the House. But the House was adjourned two, three times over the issue. I could see slogan shouting members of the SP and BSP in the Well moments after I raised the matter," he said.

A day after members cutting across party lines asked his party leader Sitaram Yechury, the new CPI(M) General Secretary, to consider getting him elected again to the Rajya Sabha, Rajeeve said he feels humbled by the love and affection showered on him by the members of the Upper House while bidding farewell to him and two other colleagues in absentia.

He said he had learnt a lot during his six year tenure in Rajya Sabha.
During their farewell speech, leaders cutting across party lines, including Leader of the House and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, BSP chief Mayawati had asked Yechury to consider getting Rajeeve elected again to the Upper House.