Demand for bigger office space in parliament has intensified with the Shiv Sena, the second biggest party in the NDA, demanding bigger room in Parliament House on a day when the Trinamool Congress moved to a new and bigger office space.
A delegation of Shiv Sena comprising Rajya Sabha MP Anil Desai, Lok Sabha MPs Anand Adsul, Bhavana Gawli, Rajan Vichare, Arvind Sawant and Gajanan Kiritkar met Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and raised the issue with her today.
With their MPs strength increasing to 21, the Shiv Sena said it was of “great inconvenience” to carry out their work smoothly in the existing premises.
“Shiv Sena”s strength has now increased to 21. We have 18 MPs in the Lok Sabha and 3 in the Rajya Sabha. We cannot conduct any meeting as the existing space is too less for carrying out any business,” said Anil Desai.
“We, therefore, met the Lok Sabha speaker and demanded a bigger space for us. Also, as per the rules, the party which has more members should get a bigger office room. The Speaker has assured us that we will be soon allot a bigger room,” he added.
The Shiv Sena has its office on the third floor of the Parliament. After its highest ever tally in the Lok Sabha poll, the existing room is too short to accommodate the increased MPs. Parties have office space allocated to them as per their strength.
Incidentally, a bitter row had erupted over occupying a room in Parliament in August last year, with Trinamool Congress members pulling down the nameplates outside the room of Telugu Desam Party and staking claim to it.
The TMC, which has 46 MPs in the Parliament, has now got a bigger office room.
PTI