Stormy monsoon session ahead

The monsoon session of Parliament will begin on Monday, July 17. The session will see a lot of political action — the election of a new President of India on the first day (the counting and the result will be announced on Wednesday), the last session with Vice-President and Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, Hamid Ansari, in saddle and a lot of legislative business, including passage of the ordinance to give the Reserve Bank of India more powers to sort out the mess of non-performing assets. On the political front, the session must be scrutinised for the Janata Dal (United)’s moves vis a vis the ruling National Democratic Alliance alliance amid suggestions that the JD(U) might prefer to walk an independent course from the rest of the opposition.