Oppn sets agenda for monsoon session
Election of the Rajya Sabha deputy chairman tops priorities list
The Opposition parties on Monday decided to ask the government to hold the election of the deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha at the earliest.
Opposition leaders met here in the evening to decide their floor coordination strategy, particularly in the Rajya Sabha, for the mon’soon session, which begins on Wednesday. At the all-party meeting convened by Parliamentary Affairs Ministry on Tuesday and later at the meeting called by Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, Opposition leaders will flag the issue of the issue.
The Rajya Sabha Secretariat is yet to notify the election process, and at Monday’s Opposition meeting fears were expressed that there might be plans to put off the process indefinitely.
The Opposition leaders also said they will demand answers from the Narendra Modi government on the issues facing the people of the country. “We will raise the issues of public concern — agrarian distress, the increase in the deposits of Indians in Swiss banks, lack of jobs and reservations for dalits,” said Mohammad Salim of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). The Opposition also decided to field a common candidate for the post of the deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha, CPI leader D Raja said. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar suggested that three parties among the opposition with most Rajya Sabha members — Congress, Trinamool Congress, and Samajwadi Party — should sit together to decide on a candidate who would be acceptable to all. With the portents being of a washout, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said the Opposition wanted Parliament to function, but it feared the government would repeat the tactics of the Budget session and make smaller parties cause disruptions.
The Telugu Desam Party said it was planning to move a no-confidence motion against the Modi government. It has reached out to several parties, barring the Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress, to support the motion that it plans to introduce in the Lok Sabha during the session.