 "Government banking on Opposition to let parliament function")
Faced with a wash out of the winter session of Parliament, the government is banking on the Opposition to end the deadlock over demonetisation, which has paralysed the two Houses since 11 days.
The Opposition is adamant on getting an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Rajya Sabha and wants a debate with voting in the Lok Sabha.
“It is a baseless issue,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said when asked about the demand for PM’s apology. “The Opposition’s behaviour is irrational, as they have not let the debate happen.”
According to government sources, the Opposition would suffer the consequences of disrupting Parliament as people’s perception about them would not be positive.
Kumar said some pending Bills related to welfare of persons with disability, pregnant women and employees needed to be cleared next week. The session comes to an end on December 16.
The ruling NDA government lacks strength in the Upper House. Kumar said the government, which passed the controversial income tax amendment Bill in the Lower House, was ready to debate the legislation in the Upper House.
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The Opposition parties have petitioned President Pranab Mukherjee against the income tax amendment Bill as it cannot become law without his nod. The only solace for the government is that it would be deemed to be passed after 14 days of introduction.
With both the opposition and treasury benches not ready to soften their positions, government managers have started looking for a way out. Sources hinted a resolution of the logjam could happen if the two sides agree on how to word the motion for debate, which means it should not be overtly critical of demonetization but only talk about shortcomings in its implementation.
But the Opposition might not let the government off that easily.
Chairing a strategy session along with his party’s lawmakers for the first time, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi outlined the Congress’ viewpoint as he attacked Modi for banning Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes.
“The country has suffered tremendous damage as a result of the vanity and incompetence of our Prime Minister. We never gave India a Prime Minister who was ready to inflict such tremendous suffering on the people to protect his own persona. We never gave India a Prime Minister who bypassed the experience of those sitting in the institutions,” he said.
“The Congress never gave India a Prime Minister who was a prisoner of his own image and who based his entire policy making strategy on TRPs (a metrics used to calculate the marketing effectiveness of a campaign).”
“The Congress never gave India a Prime Minister who was a prisoner of his own image and who based his entire policy making strategy on TRPs (a metrics used to calculate the marketing effectiveness of a campaign).”