Notwithstanding the Modi Government’s strong numerical strength, the Opposition on Saturday made known its intentions of taking on the ruling dispensation over price rise and the rail fare hike during the Budget Session, starting Monday. This, even as lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan steered clear of the issue of leader of Opposition (loP) at the all-party meeting.
While senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh called for amending the rules stipulating a 55-MP strength to get loP post, the party is even mulling legal options to challenge the Government’s likely denial of the coveted post to it. The over a month-long Budget Session will have 28 sittings and 168 working hours during which the General Budget, Rail Budget and a slew of Bills will be taken up. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will also make a statement on the situation of Indians in Iraq. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu said the Government is also willing to discuss any issue of national importance.
leaders of various parties wanted price rise, rail fare hike and also the plight of Tamil fishermen to be discussed during the Session, which concludes on August 14. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP patriarch lK Advani turned up for the lunch hosted on the occasion, but did not attend the meeting. Trinamool Congress leader Kalyan Banerjee said the first issue that should be taken up after the presentation of the Rail Budget and General Budget is price rise and the situation caused by hike in rail and freight fare.
The Government intends to bring Bills to replace the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Amendment) Ordinance, 2014 and the Ordinance with respect to Polavaram project under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Ordinance, 2014. The Commerce Ministry will be bringing a Bill on the National Institute of Design.
TRAI (Amendment) Ordinance cleared on May 28 ensured that the Government could appoint Nripendra Misra as Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister. The AP ordinance was promulgated on May 29, ahead of the official division of the State on June 2. Naidu said various pending Bills will also be reviewed and priority will be fixed on bringing them before Parliament in coordination with Opposition members. He further said the Government is ready for a discussion on any issue and appealed to the Opposition to “cooperate” to ensure that the decorum and dignity of Parliament is maintained and House business carried out smoothly.
For her part, Mahajan steered clear of all questions on the issue of granting loP status to the Congress, saying the meeting she had convened was to discuss the business before the House. “Since the Standing Committees for various ministries are yet to be constituted, the demands for grants for various ministries will be passed by both Houses by July 31 after discussion in Parliament instead of the committees,” she said. leader of Congress in lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge also said that issue of loP status was not raised in the all-party meeting.
The Government even came under attack on the issue of federalism. “Though the Government is saying on the floor of the House that they have great respect for federalism, in essence and effect we don’t see the sign of such federalism,” Mamata Banerjee said, citing letters by various Ministers to States.
Mahajan said that lok Sabha proceedings this session will have a new feature where the picture of members speaking will be shown on the screen to enable all members sitting even on the front benches to see those speaking from the rear benches.“The Government is willing to give full time to discuss any issue. They are ready to discuss every issue. Different suggestions have come and they will be decided after the meeting of the Business Advisory Committee,” she said.
Expressing displeasure over the Trinamool Congress not being given a room suitable to its strength in Parliament House, Mamata Banerjee demanded that the principle of allotment of time for discussion on the basis of strength to parties should also be applied in granting office space.Congress leaders Jyotiraditya Scindia, BJD’s Bhartuhari Mahtab, CPI-M’s P Karunakaran and SP’s Dharmendra Yadav were among others present. From the Government’s side, Ministers of State for Parliamentary Affairs Prakash Javadekar and Santosh Gangwar and Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan attended the meet.