Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has cracked the whip and asked MPs not to use parliamentary sessions as public relations exercises.
"The practice of MPs using their time in the House as part of public relations campaigns needs to end," said Mr. Birla. According to him, some members leave the House to meet with various MPs and senior leaders for personal promotion.
While naming any MP was eschewed by the Speaker, he warned that if the behaviour continued, he would be forced to name them publicly.
"I will have no option but to name them if this continues," Birla said.
After his remarks, the Speaker allowed Sayani Ghosh, the newly elected TMC MP from Jadavpur in West Bengal, to speak on grant-related matters concerning the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying.
When Ghosh thanked party leaders Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee during her speech, Birla reminded her of parliamentary decorum, saying that thanks to party leaders cannot be expressed in the House while discussions are on, and asked her to focus on the subject on hand.
Ghosh also tried to raise an issue related to the Niti Aayog meeting but was not allowed to do so by the Speaker.
The Lok Sabha session resumed earlier with the government introducing many key bills. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced the Appropriation Bill and the Finance Bill. The Law Minister, Arjun Ram Meghwal, introduced legislation relating to the readjustment in the representation of Scheduled Tribes in the Assembly constituencies of Goa.
The Oilfields (Regulation and Development) Amendment Bill is scheduled to be introduced in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday by Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.
The government is also likely to introduce amendments to the Waqf Act, which are aimed at clipping the powers of the Waqf Board in declaring any property as waqf, making verification of waqf claims mandatory.
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