Parties want debate and vote in LS

The government hunkered down on Wednesday to face Opposition fire, not just in the Rajya Sabha where a fierce debate on demonetisation took place, but also in the Lok Sabha, that was adjourned after obituary reference as soon as it convened in the morning.

At a meeting of the Lok Sabha’s Business Advisory Committee (BAC) the Opposition demanded that demonetisation be debated through an adjournment motion, that would require voting at the end of the debate, rather than rule 193 that does not entail voting. The government was at pains to get the Opposition to debate the issue without voting.

According to sources present at the meeting, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ananth Kumar said that it was the government’s hope that a “united message” go from the House on the issue of fighting black money and corruption. “Most parties are not against this crusade against corruption. And the government is ready to debate any issue, but like it happened in the last session, on the issue of the Goods and Services Tax Bill, a united message should go out from the House on this fight against corruption,” he reportedly said at the meeting. The issue now rests with Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.

BJP chief Amit Shah cancelled his scheduled meeting with party MPs from Uttar Pradesh in the evening.

Sources in the BJP said that he was monitoring the progress of the debate on demonetisation and wanted all hands on deck for the next two days. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will respond to the debate in both Houses.

GST Bill

“The priority for the government, in this session, is to get the amendments to the GST Bill cleared. Three Bills are to be cleared for that, the Central GST Bill, the Integrated GST, and the GST Compensation and Loss of Revenue Bill,” said a senior Minister.