The patience of the Elders is running out as the Rajya Sabha has been unable to persuade the Lok Sabha to facilitate a live telecast of its proceedings through its dedicated channel. Now, the Upper House is threatening to launch another satellite channel on the same pattern as LSTV.

“We may go in for our own arrangement for a live telecast of our proceedings if we fail to reach an understanding with the Lok Sabha,” Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman K Rahman Khan told The Indian Express on Tuesday. Khan has been mandated by Rajya Sabha Chairman Mohammad Hamid Ansari to try devise a formula to hitch on to the Lok Sabha TV and prop up a common Sansad TV with two separate channels simultaneously catering to both Houses.

Khan met Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar a month ago and held discussions with senior Lok Sabha officials. Rajya Sabha Secretary-General V K Agnihotri has held talks with his Lok Sabha counterpart P D T Achary, but a solution continues to elude them. “She promised to get back to us,” Khan said when asked about the response of the Speaker to his request. He is yet to hear from her.

“We are prepared to share the expenses,” Khan said. Sources said the Lok Sabha has already incurred the capital cost for putting together the requisite infrastructure. What is left to divide is the running expense. There is already a well-laid formula in place to apportion the common expenditure in the two-to-one ratio between the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.

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