Govt to initiate ministry selection talks with Opposition

The Government will initiate discussions with the Opposition on the selection of ministries for debates on the demands for grants in the Lok Sabha in the second part of the Budget session, as Speaker Om Birla refused to be part of the process due to a pending notice of motion of no-confidence against him.

There will be discussions related to the demands for grants in about five ministries in the Lok Sabha. Sources said a decision has to be taken on the ministries to be covered under the exercise.

They said normally the Lok Sabha speaker initiates the process of the selection of the ministries, but since the notice submitted by Opposition MPs for the removal of Birla is yet to be decided, he refused to take part in any discussion on it. 

Therefore, an initiative will be taken by the Parliamentary Affairs Ministry for discussions with the Opposition parties for the selection of the ministries on which the debates on demands for grants will be taken up, they said.

On February 15, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju had said that the debate and subsequent voting on the no-confidence motion moved by the Opposition against Birla will be taken up on March 9, when the House reassembles after the recess.

The second part of the Budget session is scheduled to be held from March 9 to April 2.

The first part of the Budget session was held from January 28 to February 13.

In the first part of the session, Lok Sabha witnessed disruptions since February 2, after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was disallowed by the chair from quoting from an article based on excerpts of former Army chief MM Naravane’s “unpublished memoir”, which has references to the India-China conflict of 2020.

On February 4, Prime Minister Narendra Modi could not reply to the debate on the Motion of Thanks due to Opposition protests.

In an unprecedented move, the Motion of Thanks was passed on February 5 without the customary speech by the prime minister.

The speaker read out the Motion of Thanks to the President for her address, and it was passed by a voice vote, amid sloganeering by Opposition members.

Birla had said he received concrete information that many Congress MPs could carry out an “unexpected act” by reaching the spot where PM Modi sits, and, therefore, he asked him not to come to the House to deliver his address. Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra refuted this.

Eight Opposition members were suspended for the remainder of the Budget session for unruly behaviour in the House.

During the session, a no-confidence motion was initiated by the Opposition parties against Birla, alleging that he had acted in a “blatantly partisan” manner, following which he decided to step aside from his role as the presiding officer of the House.