Parliament may be forced to adjourn sine die ahead of schedule as it is becoming increasingly difficult for the government to conduct any business, with the Opposition, emboldened by the recent Assembly election results, blocking all work, Congress managers said, however, adding a call would be taken only after the financial business is completed.
But the BJP, principal Opposition, is in no mood to allow the session to be curtailed as it wishes to pin down the government on a slew of issues. The government is in a quandary, these sources said: on the one hand, no work is being done, its own MPs from Seemandhra have placed it in an embarrassing position by moving a no-confidence motion against it; on the other, with anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare on a hunger strike, the focus is once again on the Lokpal Bill that was on the government’s priority list for this session.
The government, a senior parliamentary manager said, must at least make an attempt to get the Bill passed. On Wednesday, following a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee, financial business — the Supplementary Demands for Grants (General) for 2013-14, and the Supplementary Demands for Grants (Railways) for 2013-14 — were listed for Thursday and Friday. A three-line whip asking members to be present in the House and to vote in favour of the government business has also been issued by the Congress for three days from Wednesday.
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At the meeting, some of the smaller parties urged the government to adjourn the House sine die ahead of schedule as no work was being done.
Meanwhile, the BJP brass met here and decided that the party would cooperate with the government in passing the finance Bills provided it was allowed to flag the Lokpal Bill, the Telangana issue and the AgustaWestland deal. The BJP also intends to question the government why its own MPs are disrupting Parliament by tabling a no-confidence motion. This comes in the wake of the Congress parliamentary managers seeking BJP support to get the finance Bills through.