Govt, Oppn gear up for session

NEW DELHI, July 19:
Bracing for the opposition onslaught in Parliament, Government and the ruling BJP today decided to aggressively counter the attack on its leaders like Sushma Swaraj, Vasundhara Raje and Shivraj Singh Chouhan and rake up controversies related to Congress leaders.
With Parliament convening on Tuesday for Monsoon session, BJP chief Amit Shah held strategy meetings with various party colleagues, including Union Ministers Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Smriti Irani, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Piyush Goyal as well as party spokespersons during which Vasundhara Raje, the Chief Minister of Rajasthan, was also present.
Subsequently, Shah, along with Jaitley and other senior leaders like Rajnath Singh and Venkaiah Naidu met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to finetune the strategy.
Chouhan also landed in Delhi later in the evening to participate in the confabulations.
Making it evident that there will be no resignations, the party discussed how to counter the opposition attack in Parliament and harmonising of the response of the Government and the party on these issues, sources said.
Congress has threatened to disrupt Parliament if its demands for ouster of Raje, External Affairs Minister Swaraj and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Chouhan are not acceded to.
Raje is under attack for her links with former IPL Chairman Lalit Modi who is facing ED probe. Swaraj is also accused of helping Lalit Modi. Chouhan is under the opposition fire in Vyapam scam.
BJP does not want to be seen on the defensive on the controversial issues plaguing the party for the last few months, the sources said.
“We will aggressively and effectively counter the disinformation campaign of Congress,” said party media cell in-charge Shrikant Sharma, who was present in Shah’s meeting.
“As far as Lalit Modi controversy is concerned, Congress is totally confused. On one hand, they are seeking resignation of our leaders on the basis of Lalit Modi’s comments, but has no answer to his charges against Priyanka Gandhi, her husband Robert Vadra and an alleged deal with Sonia Gandhi’s sister. We will seek their answers on these,” he said.
A BJP leader said the party also decided to highlight how judiciary had earlier refused to take cognizance of Congress leader Digvijaya Singh’s attempts to drag Chouhan in the Vyapam scam.
The party believes that there was no wrongdoing on part of Vasundhara or her son Dushyant Singh in dealings with Lalit Modi.
Among the party’s media faces who met Shah were M J Akbar, Shrikant Sharma and Sambit Patra.
Besides pressing for removal of Swaraj, opposition has indicated that it will also target HRD Minister Smriti Irani, who is facing charges related to an educational certificate.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh may also be targeted in connection with a rice scam.
The ruling BJP, on its part, is likely to train its guns on Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh of Congress, who is embroiled in a disproportionate assets case. In an indication of the challenges his Government is likely to face in Parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has convened the maiden meeting of all NDA constituents tomorrow to deliberate the strategy to counter the opposition.
Before meeting the allies at his residence, Modi may also attend two separate all-party meetings called by Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu and Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to discuss ways to ensure a smooth session.
Sensing the opposition heat awaiting his Government in Parliament, Modi had on Friday acknowledged that there will be a ‘muqabla’ (contest).
While the BJP-led NDA commands an absolute majority in Lok Sabha, it lacks numbers in the Upper House where Congress is the largest party and holds key to the passage of the crucial legislations, including GST and land bill.
Senior NDA Ministers had on Thursday held a meeting to chalk out the strategy for pushing the Government’s legislative business in view of the Opposition parties closing ranks on various issues.
The Government has finalised 35 items of business for the monsoon session, which included nine bills pending in Rajya Sabha and four pending in Lok Sabha, besides introduction of 11 new bills.
Meanwhile, Congress and several other Opposition parties appeared to be closing ranks to corner the Government on a range of issues including Vyapam scam and Lalit Modi controversy.
Besides pressing for removal of Union Ministers Sushma Swaraj and Smriti Irani, Opposition parties have indicated that they would raise the issue of scams and controversies allegedly involving BJP Chief Ministers — Shivraj Singh Chouhan of Madhya Pradesh, Vasundhara Raje of Rajasthan and Raman Singh of Chhattisgarh — and demand their resignations.
External Affairs Minister Swaraj is at the centre of a major row for helping former IPL boss Lalit Modi to secure travel documents in the UK, while HRD Minister Irani is facing the Opposition’s flak in the wake of a controversy over her educational qualifications.
The Government’s floor managers conceded Monsoon session could be stormy. In the last Lok Sabha, an entire session was washed out over the Opposition’s demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee in the 2G scam.
The four bills pending in Lok Sabha include the contentious land bill but sources say it is unlikely to be taken up during this session as the Joint Committee of Parliament scrutinising the bill is unlikely to complete its proceedings on time.
The three other bills pending in the Lower House are the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill, 2014, Delhi High Court (Amendment) Bill, 2015 and The Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2014.
Crucial among the nine bills pending in Rajya Sabha are the Constitution (one hundred and twenty second) Amendment Bill, 2014 relating to GST, which is currently with a Select Committee of Rajya Sabha, the Whistle Blower Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2015, the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2013 and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Bill, 2015.
Other important bills pending in Rajya Sabha are the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2012, the Appropriation Act (Repeal) Bill — which seeks to repeal obsolete laws, and the Readjustment of Representation of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in Parliamentary, Assembly Constituencies (Third) Bill, 2014.
The 11 new bills, which the Government plans to introduce include the Consumer Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2015 that plans for sweeping changes in consumer protection laws and create a Consumer Protection Authority to fast-track grievance redressal of consumers on the lines of the US and European countries.
Others are the Constitution (Amendment) Bills, 2015 relating to reservation of women in Panchayats and urban local bodies, Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2015 to settle commercial disputes outside courts, the High Court and Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Services), which seeks to redress their long-pending demand of High Court judges of one rank one pension, the National Commission for Women Bill, 2015 and the Human Deoxyribose Nucleic  Acid (DNA) Profiling Bill, 2015.
Meanwhile, with consensus eluding it, the land bill is unlikely to be presented in Parliament during the Monsoon session and the related ordinance would be promulgated for an unprecedented fourth time, Government sources said.
“The bill is unlikely to be brought before Parliament in the Monsoon session due to lack of consensus. Hence the only likely probability is its repromulgation,” sources said.
The Joint Committee of Parliament headed by BJP MP S S Ahluwalia, which is looking into the contentious legislation, meanwhile plans to seek a two-week extension till August 3 to finalize its report.
Indications are that the panel is unlikely to come out with its report during the Monsoon session and could seek further extension, making it necessary for the Government to re-promulgate the ordinance once again. The ordinance was promulgated for the third time on May 31.
Sources said further extensions may also be sought as the Government does not want to bring the bill before Parliament until after the Bihar Assembly poll in September-October.
Sources in the Government see nothing unusual in the re-promulgation of the land ordinance. They said at least 15 ordinances have been promulgated twice or more.
An ordinance, which has a life span of six months otherwise, has to be re-promulgated if it does not get the endorsement of Parliament within six weeks of the start of a session. Monsoon session starts on July 21 and ends on August 13.(PTI)

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