The Opposition is keeping the government guessing on whether its members in the Select Committees examining the Coal Bill and the Mines and Minerals Bill will help submit final reports by March 18, which would allow both to be passed in Parliament by March 20, when the inter-session break begins.
After the Congress helped the government pass the Insurance Bill in the Rajya Sabha, the rest of the Opposition is unsettled. Asked about the fate of the two Bills with the Select Committees, a JD(U) Rajya Sabha member said: “While the issue of secularism, and now land, unites the Opposition, the Congress and the BJP are largely in agreement on economic reforms.”
The Congress, which had held out on supporting the Insurance Bill in the Winter Session, appears torn. While it does not want to break Opposition unity, it has no fundamental problem with either of these Bills if the government agrees to the changes it wants.
