MoS for parliamentary affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the CPI’s D. Raja leave after an all-party meeting at Parliament House in New Delhi on Saturday, ahead of the Budget Session which begins February 23. (Photo: G.N. Jha)
MoS for parliamentary affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the CPI’s D. Raja leave after an all-party meeting at Parliament House in New Delhi on Saturday, ahead of the Budget Session which begins February 23. (Photo: G.N. Jha)
Opposition parties on Saturday closed ranks over the JNU row but offered conditional support only for the passage of “essential” bills, as Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari held an all-party meeting aimed at ensuring its smooth functioning in the Budget Session, beginning next week.
The government conveyed to the Opposition that it is ready to discuss all issues. There are indications that the session could be stormy, with the Opposition set to corner the Modi government over various issues, including the JNU row, Pathankot airbase attack and the dalit scholar’s suicide in Hyderebad University. The government is in minority in the Upper House, as a result of which many of its key bills, including the GST bill, remain pending.
The all-party meeting was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, MoS for parliamentary affairs minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi. Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma, SAD’s Naresh Gujral, JD(U)’s K.C. Tyagi and CPI’s D. Raja were among those present during the meeting.
Meanwhile, the Opposition agreed to the government’s proposal that a bill which gives voting rights to people who became Indian citizens with effect from July 31 last following exchange of enclaves with Bangladesh, would be passed at the earliest. Assembly elections in West Bengal are due in the next two months.
The bill, Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2016, which seeks to amend Section 11 of the Delimitation Act, 2002 and Section 9 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, allow EC to hold limited delimitation exercise in West Bengal. Mr Jaitley brought up the matter during the meeting and the parties agreed. Once passed, the bill will enable the EC to carry out limited delimitation of Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies in Cooch Behar district of West Bengal following the exchange of 51 Bangladeshi and 111 Indian enclaves in July last year.
