The ruling United Progressive Alliance is bracing itself for the monsoon session where it anticipates a concerted attack by the Opposition on price rise, the continuing violence in Kashmir, the spurt in Maoist attacks, the recent Foreign Minister-level talks in Islamabad, the role of Karnataka Governor H.R. Bhardwaj vis-à-vis the mining issue, the spate of rail accidents and the controversy over the allocation of 2G spectrum.
The UPA leaders discussed the strategy to counter the Opposition on these issues as well as the legislation — including the all-important Direct Tax Code — that they hope to bring before Parliament.
“The government is prepared to discuss any matter of interest and concern to the members on the floor of the House,” Home Minister P. Chidambaram told journalists after the meeting, adding Leader of the Lok Sabha Pranab Mukherjee had already conveyed this to opposition leaders.
Mamata, Pawar absent
Two key allies — Railway Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and Union Agriculture and Food Minister and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar — were absent at the meeting, which was attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. Asked about their absence, Mr. Chidambaram said Mr. Pawar was unable to attend for “personal reasons,” Ms. Banerjee was in West Bengal.
Among the key bills that will come up are the Women's Reservation Bill that has already been passed by the Rajya Sabha, and the Direct Tax Code, sources said. The Direct Tax Code, which seeks to simplify and make transparent the process of taxation, has been through two drafts already — and with industry raising objections to the second draft, its passage could be difficult, especially as it requires a two-thirds majority in Parliament and concurrence by the States.
The DMK, which was represented by the former Union Minister, T.R. Baalu, flagged two issues. The first was the Sri Lanka issue, emphasising the need to help find a lasting solution in that country as well as do something to ameliorate the condition of fishermen. The second was to speed up the process of caste census, now being studied by a Group of Ministers (GoM), which has sought the opinion of all political parties.
So far, official sources confirmed on Monday, no party has yet responded to the letter written by Mr. Mukherjee, who heads the GoM. While BJP leader in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley told The Hindu that his party was “in the process of formulating its views,” Janata Dal (United) general secretary Javed Raza said his party was yet to receive Mr. Mukherjee's letter.
In the last session of Parliament, the Samajwadi Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the JD(U) disrupted proceedings demanding the enumeration of caste in Census 2011.
Mr. Mukherjee, senior NCP leader Praful Patel, National Conference patron Farooq Abdullah, and Political Secretary to the Congress president Ahmed Patel were among those who attended the meeting.
