Ahead of monsoon session, BJP reaches out to Manmohan

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 28

Ahead of the monsoon session of Parliament starting July 18, the government on Thursday began its outreach to enlist Opposition support for 68 pending bills in Lok Sabha and 40 in the Rajya Sabha.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Vijay Goel met former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as part of the government’s engagement with the wider Opposition to seek cooperation for the legislative agenda. This early outreach of the government follows a washout of the Budget session recently.

The meeting lasted half an hour with Goel telling the veteran Congress leader that the government was ready to discuss all issues on the floor of the House. The minister informed Dr Singh of 68 bills pending in the Lok Sabha and 40 in the Rajya Sabha, seeking the support of Congress during the 18-sitting session that will conclude on August 10.

Goel later said the former PM welcomed the government initiative to reach out to Opposition leaders and MPs and noted that it was the “responsibility of both ruling and Opposition parties to ensure both Houses worked smoothly”.

In the Budget session the productivity of Rajya Sabha was 8 per cent and that of the Lok Sabha was 4 per cent. “For this upcoming session, accusations and counter-accusations need to give way to cooperation in letting the Parliament function constructively,” Goel said.

Important pending Bills are the Muslim Marriage (Protection of Marriage Rights) Bill, 2017, to end the practice of instant triple talaq; Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2017; Constitution (123rd Amendment) Bill, 2017, and Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2013. Goel is also learnt to have broached the issue of election of Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha in his conversation with Manmohan.

“We hope the election of a new Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha will be held in the House with consensus,” he said. The session also needs to replace six ordinances with Acts: Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance; Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance; Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of HCs (Amendment) Ordinance; Homoeopathy Central Council (Amendment) Ordinance; National Sports University Ordinance; Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Ordinance.