Amid widespread IndiGo flight cancellations and delays, civil aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu is set to brief the Lok Sabha on Tuesday as the airline works to restore normal operations.
Meanwhile, the Rajya Sabha will take up the discussion on 150 years of Vande Mataram, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi kicked off the debate in the Lok Sabha.
Naidu addressed the issue in Rajya Sabha too on Monday as he responded to several questions on the crisis, from flight roster norms to refunds issued.
Key developments expected in Parliament today:
- Congress MP Manickam Tagore has submitted a notice for suspension of business in the Lok Sabha, demanding a discussion on the IndiGo crisis. The MP’s submission holds the government responsible for “failing” to prevent the unprecedented cancellations, steep airfare surge and “harassment” faced by passengers.
- Ram Mohan Naidu, who addressed the IndiGo cancellations in Rajya Sabha on Monday, will do the same in Lok Sabha on a day when over 200 flights of the airline were cancelled across Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and some other airports. During his speech in Rajya Sabha, Naidu held IndiGo’s “internal system” responsible for the chaos and said the airline didn’t flag any issues during a meet on December 1, a day before widespread cancellations began.
- Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, will open the much-demanded debate in Lok Sabha on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. Ten hours have been earmarked for the big debate in both Houses of Parliament. Among other Congress leaders who will take part in the Lok Sabha debate are KC Venugopal, Manish Tewari, Varsha Gaikwad, Mohammed Javaid, Ujjwal Raman Singh, Isa Khan, Ravi Mallu, Imran Masood, Gowaal Padavi, and S Jyotimani.
- The SIR discussion will take place in Rajya Sabha as well, likely to be initiated by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, reported news agency ANI. The opposition parties have been demanding a debate on SIR for months, with Congress alleging discrepancies in the voter list.
- A discussion on 150 years of ‘Vande Mataram’ will also take place in the Rajya Sabha, after being held in Lok Sabha on Monday. PM Modi led the big discussion on Monday, heaping big praise on the national song, listing its history and anti-colonial pitch. The discussion came weeks after PM Modi and the BJP accused the Congress of removing certain lines from the song in 1937 and “sowing the seeds of Partition”.