Political parties on Tuesday told the government that the scheduled winter session of Parliament was too brief and suggested that it be extended after taking a break for Christmas. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath, responding to this demand, said he would get back to them after referring the matter to the government, and consulting Rajya Sabha members as well as those from the northeast and the south.
The demand was made at an all-party meeting called by Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar ahead of the session beginning on Thursday. The government’s justification for the session being allotted just 12 days was that it clashed with the campaigning for the ongoing Assembly elections; indeed, polling for the last of the five States — Delhi — will be held on Wednesday.
Significantly, though the government has been working to get the Telangana Bill cleared in the winter session, it does not find place in the list of business: indeed, the first draft of the Group of Ministers’ Bill on the subject was ready only on Tuesday. Emerging from the all-party meeting, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, “Our government is committed to the formation of Telangana and it will be our effort to make full use of due process of law to ensure that Telangana does come about.”
At a meeting called by Mr. Kamal Nath on Monday, the government had assured the Opposition that it would try to expedite the process.
Congress sources said that as this would effectively be the last session of the 15th Lok Sabha — next year’s budget session would just see a vote on account — it would make sense to extend the session to get the Telangana Bill through.
The Opposition’s objective in attempting to get the session extended, senior leaders said, was to try and pin the government down on critical issues such as rising prices and the controversial report of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G. On Tuesday, CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta said he would move an adjournment motion on price rise on the opening day. He said the suggestion had found favour with Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj. The BJP has also sought a debate on atrocities against women and internal security in the wake of the explosions at the recent party rally in Patna.
The government, on the other hand, has listed as many as 30 Bills for passage and another five for introduction (including The Constitution (One Hundred Nineteenth Amendment) Bill, 2013 i.e., the India-Bangladesh Land Boundary agreement, even as it seeks approval for three ordinances.
But Congress sources said the government was not too keen on prolonging the session as recent experience demonstrated that very little government business gets done with the Opposition’s focus squarely on embarrassing it. The government, these sources added, did not expect the coming session to be any different.
For the government, apart from the financial business — discussion and voting on Supplementary Demands for Grants (General) for 2013-14, and discussion and voting on Supplementary Demands for Grants (Railways) for 2013-14 — that it needs to push through, the Bills that are on its priority list are those relating to women’s reservation in legislatures, and reservation in government services to SCs/STs, both already cleared by the Rajya Sabha, and The Street Vendors Bill, The Whistle Blowers Protection Bill, and The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill — all three already cleared by the Lok Sabha.
Meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party, whose support is crucial for the UPA government, has threatened to disrupt Parliament if the Women’s Bill or the SC/ST reservation in promotion Bill is taken up.
