Govt considers plan to adjourn Parliament’s monsoon session early | Latest News India - Hindustan Times
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Govt considers plan to adjourn Parliament’s monsoon session early

BySaubhadra Chatterji and Smriti Kak Ramachandran
Aug 05, 2022 09:05 PM IST

BJP leaders said the government tried hard to restore normalcy in Parliament and urged opposition members to allow proceedings but the opposition parties were determined to disrupt the House

NEW DELHI: With just three working days left in the monsoon session of Parliament, government managers have started consulting key opposition leaders on a proposal to adjourn the House on August 8 or 10. A final decision on early closure of the session is yet to be taken.

The government had prepared a list of 24 bills for passage for the monsoon session of Parliament, 14 pending from previous sessions (HT File Photo)
The government had prepared a list of 24 bills for passage for the monsoon session of Parliament, 14 pending from previous sessions (HT File Photo)

The monsoon session, which started on July 18, was scheduled to end on August 12. But the government is now reviewing its options in view of two holidays in the next week, Muharram and Raksha Bandhan, and an unrelenting Opposition that has continued to disrupt proceedings.

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One of the government proposals is to skip the Question Hour and the Zero Hour on Monday, August 8, and dedicate the entire first half of the Rajya Sabha to the farewell of Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, said two senior opposition leaders.

“The second half of Rajya Sabha proceedings would be used to push a couple of bills,” said a leader.

The other proposal, according to a non-Congress opposition leader, is to “meet on August 10, Wednesday, the last day of Venkaiah Naidu’s term as Vice President and have both Question Hour and Zero Hour on Wednesday so that we can raise some key issues”.

Another leader added that there is also a possibility that the Lok Sabha will be adjourned sine die on August 8 while the Rajya Sabha continues till August 10.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders aware of the details said the government tried hard to restore normalcy in the House and urged opposition members to allow proceedings.

A senior BJP leader speaking on condition of anonymity said, “The government reached out to the Opposition to raise the issues that they wanted to through dialogue and discussion but the Opposition was intent on disruption and disturbance.”

The leader said the Opposition wanted to speak on price rise and inflation and despite the government agreeing to a discussion, they wasted nearly two weeks. “In the Rajya Sabha, the chairperson had agreed to a discussion on the issue; all he said was that the discussion could not be held under rule 267. The finance minister was unwell and the government sought time for her to be able to return to the house so that she could reply. Yet all we saw from the opposition side was placards and sloganeering,” the leader said.

The government had prepared a list of 24 bills for passage for the monsoon session, of which 14 were pending from the previous sessions. “This was a short session of 17-18 sittings and about 60-62 hours were set aside for government business and the rest of the time was to be allotted for Zero Hour, Question Hour and private members’ bills, but the first two weeks were practically a washout. It was a huge loss to the members even from other parties who could not raise the issues that they had been preparing to bring to the notice of the House,” the leader quoted above said.

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