MPs blame Railways for their absence in Parliament

Was the railways responsible for some members of Lok Sabha being absent from the House on Monday that led to collapse of Question Hour and triggered a controversy?

This was the contention of a Congress member Harsh Vardhan, who said on Wednesday that he could not reach the House in time because of delay in train when he was travelling in from his constituency Maharajganj in Uttar Pradesh to Delhi.

He said he was raising the issue during Zero Hour as questions had been raised over their absence from the House on Monday.

The Congress member said he had gone to his constituency for a meeting and wanted to return in the morning of Monday ahead of the sitting of Parliament.

Criticising the functioning of the railways broadly, he said the train, in which he was coming to Delhi, was halted at Gorakhpur on that day leading to delay.

Vardhan said some other MPs, including Yogi Adityanath (BJP), were also travelling in the train and were delayed like him. Adityanath was not present in the House when Vardhan spoke.

Blaming the station master for the problem, Vardhan demanded action against him. Congress President Sonia Gandhi has taken serious note of the party members being absent from the House on a large scale and has sought a list of the truant MPs.

Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh (SP) joined Vardhan, saying he too could not come because of the train delay.