The Opposition parties do not have any “pressing reasons” to stall proceedings of the Monsoon session, as both Ashwini Kumar and Pawan Kumar Bansal have resigned from the Cabinet.
No new cases of corruption were reported against the UPA functionaries in the last three months.
So, this session is likely to be a peaceful one unless the Opposition decides not to allow the Congress to pass those legislations, which may help the party to get votes in 2014.
Issues such as Food Security Bill, Land Acquisition Bill, the Uttarakhand tragedy, the mid-day meal scheme tragedy, Telangana, the state of the economy and the recent easing of FDI norms could come up for discussions in the Monsoon session.
If the words of the Opposition leader Sushma Swaraj are taken on face value, the Opposition is willing to debate all these issues.
There could be some legislative action against the Supreme Court’s recent orders on restricting people with criminal cases from contesting elections and stopping reservation in appointment for faculty posts in speciality and super speciality courses in medical colleges.
These orders, along with the Central Information Commission’s order of bringing political parties into the ambit of Right to Information, have forced the political parties to close ranks. The Government has already started making overtures to the Opposition. Speaker Meira Kumar and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath had convened separate meetings of political parties on the session. The Prime Minister also requested cooperation of all parties.
Apart from passing the Bill on Supplementary Demands for Grants (General) for 2013-14 and the Land Acquisition Bill, the Government’s key agenda is to get Parliament’s nod for National Food Security Ordinance, the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Ordinance, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Amendment) Ordinance, the Readjustment of representation of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies Ordinance, and the Securities Laws (Amendment) Ordinance.
It has also listed 64 legislations to be considered by Parliament. The Government has reached out to the Opposition on the Insurance Bill. But a consensus is unlikely given the BJP’s opposition to the legislation.
The Samajwadi Party has reiterated its opposition to the Food Security Bill. It is also peeved with UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s decision to raise the issue of the suspension of UP cadre IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal with the Prime Minister.
In the first meeting of political parties, Kamal Nath drew flak from the Opposition for making the session a mockery.
“We have 64 legislations and 16 days. There are four Fridays for private members’ business. So, only 12 days will be available for considering the Government’s business. We have asked the Government to fix priority for the legislations to be considered by the House,” senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
The Business Advisory Committee will now prioritise the Bills before Parliament. The Food Security Bill is likely to come up in the second week of the session. The President had already given his nod to withdraw the ordinance.
Telangana will be another issue that could see some action in the House.
Fearing repercussions from the Hills of West Bengal, both the Trinamool Congress and the CPI(M) have warned the Centre against taking more such steps. Within the Congress itself, there is a crisis. Seven of its MPs have resigned, but the resignations are yet to be accepted.
“We are requesting them to withdraw their resignations as they have to represent their cases in the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha,” Congress General Secretary in charge of Andhra Pradesh Digvijaya Singh told Business Line , apparently indicating that the issue will be amicably resolved.
jigeesh.am@thehindu.co.in