NEW DELHI (TIP): The Congress-led opposition is likely to attack the government on key economic and corruption issues when the winter session of Parliament begins on Dec 15, Friday.
The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will be bolstered by Thursday’s exit poll results that gave clear mandates to the BJP in both Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Sources in both camps indicated that the impact of the Gujarat results is likely to be felt in the House. “Even if the Congress is unable to get majority but increases its tally in the Gujarat assembly, we will certainly see a more aggressive face of the principal opposition party,” said a senior party strategist.
The session’s first full day will be on Monday – when assembly election results will be declared – as the first day is likely to be adjourned after obituary references to three former parliamentarians.
The government pushed back the session from its usual schedule to ensure that it doesn’t clash with the Gujarat poll campaign. The BJP, however, faced flak from the opposition parties who accused the government for trying to curtail the length of the winter session.
The government has listed nine new bills, including one to criminalise instant triple talaq, for the short session. It also intends to pass 24 bills which are stuck in either of the two houses.
The Congress, along with other opposition parties such as the Left, Trinamool Congress and DMK, had often stalled the government’s bills in Rajya Sabha and disrupted proceedings in the Lower House, where the BJP-led NDA enjoys a brute majority.
Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu, who spoke about tough measures against disruptions, told Rajya Sabha TV on Thursday that the Opposition must have ways to express their views.