By IANS,
New Delhi : With repeated disruptions in parliament becoming a routine affair, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday appealed to all political parties to cooperate in running both its houses and restore the role of the institution.
“It is unfortunate that despite our best efforts, parliament has not been running smoothly,” Manmohan Singh said while giving the K. Karunakaran Award for ‘best administrator in India’ to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
“I would like to say that it is the job of not only the ruling party but all political parties to cooperate constructively in running the house.
“We should work together to make parliament live up to the role and ideals that our founding fathers envisioned for it,” he stressed.
The prime minister’s comments came against the backdrop of repeated disruptions in parliament, with virtually no business conducted on at least 10 days in the winter session.
The stalemate in parliament resulted from a belligerent opposition trying to corner the government on issues like price rice and foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail.
Showering praise on Mukherjee, the PM said: “There are few people in politics today who can match his long and exemplary record of public service.”
Comparing Mukherjee to former Kerala chief minister K. Karunakaran, he said: “All those who know him are familiar with his vast knowledge, prodigious memory and capacity for hard work.
“Less well known is that he is an avid reader with an abiding love for history, the arts and culture, not to mention his weakness for Bengali sweets,” he said.
The award has set been set up by the K. Karunakaran Foundation in the memory of veteran Congress leader and four-time chief minister of Kerala.