NEW DELHI: MPs belonging to the INDIA alliance will pause their protest in Parliament, demanding Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement on the Manipur issue, and participate in the debate and voting when the bill to replace the Delhi ordinance will come up in the Houses next week. This decision was taken after AAP members demanded so at the INDIA floor leaders’ meeting on Friday morning.

But, this also triggered discontent among some Opposition MPs who wondered why the entire Opposition should be on their legislative vigil only for a bill about which the Arvind Kejriwal government and AAP are sensitive whereas many other important bills were getting pushed through by the government by making use of the Opposition protests.

While AAP’s Raghav Chaddha pitched for INDIA MPs’ presence in the Houses for debate and voting against the bill, Trinamool’s Derek O’Brien acted as the former’s zealous backer.

“Evidently, AAP and Trinamool had come prepared to push the case and it is understandable given the Arvind Kejriwal-Mamata Banerjee axis in the Opposition,” quipped an Opposition leader after the meeting. While Congress is already tied down by its public promise to oppose the bill, as demanded by Kejriwal ahead of the Karnataka conclave, the similar compulsion of others to keep “Opposition unity” also meant agreeing to AAP’s wish.

The proposal for Opposition mobilisation against the bill included bringing ailing members such as former PM Manmohan Singh and Shibu Soren for voting.