Monsoon Session: Parliament likely to witness ‘fireworks’

New Delhi: Nixing hopes of smooth functioning of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, the Opposition parties, led by the Congress, on Tuesday said they have decided to move a no-confidence motion against the Central government over “various issues plaguing” the country. In the same breath, however, the parties said that they would like both the Houses to function and would help the government facilitate that. The Monsoon Session begins on Wednesday

Since a no-confidence motion can be moved only in the Lok Sabha, respective leaders of all Opposition parties in the Lower House are holding consultations amongst each other to finalise the issues that would be included. Most likely, matters which would be mentioned in the motion are incidents of lynching, downward spiral of the economy, jobless growth and women’s security, sources said.

Sources said that the decision to move a no-confidence motion was taken at the Opposition parties meeting on Monday which was attended by 13 parties apart from the Congress.

The no-confidence motion moved by these parties would, however, be separate from the one already submitted by the Telugu Desam Party to the Speaker on Tuesday, which is for the grant of special status to Andhra Pradesh.

Senior Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Gulam Nabi Azad said that the Opposition parties supported the demand for special category status for Andhra Pradesh, but will move a separate one “which will not be restricted to just one matter”.

However, Mr Azad, jointly addressing the media along with senior Congress Leader Mallikarjun Kharge, said that the Opposition also wants the House to function and would cooperate with the government to help run it smoothly.

The parties also submitted a joint letter to Speaker Sumitra Mahajan asserting that it was not the Opposition which had disrupted the house in the previous session.

Tuesday’s letter from the Opposition MPs was in response to a letter written by the Speaker to MPs last week in which she had asked them to introspect why the House had not run in the last session.

“The Opposition has been very decent and dignified in its conduct which is verifiable from the records of the House,” the letter which was signed by nine Lok Sabha MPs from the Congress, CPI(M), Samajwadi Party, NCP, RJD and AAP, said.