Govt may face monsoon heat as NDA, Left roll up sleeves

NEW DELHI: With the BJP-led Opposition and the Left set to take on the UPA government on economic, security and foreign affairs issues, the monsoon session of Parliament beginning on Monday is likely to be a heated affair.

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It would also see some changes in the proceedings of the Lok Sabha. At the all-party lunch meeting on Sunday, which was attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, there was a broad consensus on two vital proposals made by Speaker Somnath Chatterjee.

First, after Question Hour and Calling Attention motions every day, 30 minutes of the House's time will be devoted to discussing matters of urgent national importance. Second, after 6 pm every day, special mentions on important constituency-related issues would be taken up for 30 minutes to an hour.

Hoping that all parties would ensure that the session is orderly and constructive discussions are held, the Speaker said, “There is no difficulty in allowing any matter to be debated subject to rules and availability of time.”

Offering an olive branch to the Left, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said, “The government has no problem in discussing any matter or any issue of public importance that the Opposition or supporting parties of the UPA want to raise in the House.”

Then, he went on subtly underline what those issues should be: “Floods, drought and other important matters.”

But the Left and the NDA are likely to raise the disinvestment in BHEL, inflation, FDI, WTO, the fuel price hike, the Indo-US joint statement, the PM's statement on the Raj in Britain, the Iran oil pipeline and the Ayodhya attack.

BJP's deputy leader in Lok Sabha, V K Malhotra said, “The Opposition would participate in the proceedings and raise major issues effectively and aggressively. We will create no situation which would disrupt the House. However, if other parties create any disturbance, the Opposition should not be blamed.”

This apart, there was a slight tiff over the length of the session between BJP and the UPA. Malhotra, supported by CPI's Gurudas Dasgupta, complained to the Speaker about the shortening length of Parliamentary sessions, drawing a comment from Chatterjee that he was willing to sit for 365 days, if the Government desires.

Azad, however, was quick to point to out that during the NDA rule, the monsoon session never stretched for more than 19-20 days - the coming session will be of 23 days.

Sunday 's meeting was also attended by Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha C S Atwal, MoS for Parliamentary Affairs Suresh Pachauri and P R Kyndiah and party leaders including Basudeb Acharia (CPI-M), Gurudas Dasgupta (CPI), Prabhunath Singh (JD-U), D P Yadav (RJD), Ramchandra Paswan (LJP), Kuppuswamy (DMK), S S Dhindsa (SAD), Ramgopal Yadav (SP), Ajit Singh (RLD) and Braja Kishore Tripathy (BJD).

Women's bill meet in 10 days

NEW DELHI: Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said on Sunday that an all-party meet would be organised within 10 days to discuss the introduction of the Women's Reservation Bill.

Citing UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi's “keenness” to introduce the bill, Azad said, “In a week to 10 days, a final round of talks will be held with leaders of all political parties and we hope to come to some conclusion.” Azad said that the government would do its best to introduce the bill in the monsoon session.