The government has called for an all-party meeting on Thursday; an hour before this meeting the Opposition parties will meet to discuss their strategy for the winter session of Parliament which opens on Friday and will go on till January 5.
The Congress party has invited all Opposition parties at 4 p.m. to discuss their strategy ahead of the official all-party meeting. Congress general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad is slated to chair the meeting.
The session, that usually begins mid-November and ends before Christmas, has been much delayed this year. For the first time Parliament will be in session on New Year.
“The Gujarat Assembly poll results, which is scheduled to be declared on December 18, will essentially decide the decibel levels of the Opposition this session,” a Rajya Sabha MP said.
The Congress is bracing to have a debate on the Rafale deal. The party has accused the government of buying the Rafale jets at an inflated cost. It claims that the UPA had negotiated the price at ₹526.1 crore per plane, while the NDA is now buying at the cost of ₹1570 crore per plane.
The Opposition parties will also take up farmers distress. The recent resignation of BJP MP Nanabhau Patole from Lok Sabha citing the BJP government’s “absolute indifference” towards farmers will arm the Opposition with more ammunition.
Among the regional parties, the TDP, which is an NDA ally, is particularly disturbed at the slow pace of disbursal of the special package for Andhra. In a recent strategy meeting of the TDP parliamentary party, it was decided that the issue would be raised during the session.
The government needs to get Parliament’s ratification for two key bills. One is the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill, the other is an amendment to the GST bill after the government decided to increase the annual turnover eligibility for composition scheme from the present limit of ₹1 crore to ₹2 crore.
