Cong-Left bypassed, bills on mines, coal set to be passed
NEW DELHI: The contentious mines and minerals bill and coal auction bill may make it through Rajya Sabha in the next few days with some Opposition parties not in favour of the Congress and Left’s demand to give the select committees more time to study them.
The parliamentary panels are now expected to submit their reports on Wednesday itself.
In a major turnaround for the government, it has managed to get the support of the Trinamool Congress and BJD in the select committees, blunting the opposition from the Congress, Left, JD(U) and DMK.
The coal bill panel, sources said, has not suggested any changes to the official bill. The panel on the mines and minerals bill may recommend just one amendment pertaining to the rights of states.
If the panels don’t recommend major changes, it will make it easy for the government to pass the bills — already cleared by Lok Sabha — in the upper House.
Any amendment passed by Rajya Sabha requires the approval of the other House. With the first half of the budget session set to end on March 20, the government is ready to extend it by a day or two to pass the bills — which will replace ordinances that lapse on April 5.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 NEW DELHI: In what may have reminded them of their school days, the names of over two dozen BJP MPs were called out at a party meeting Tuesday and the lawmakers stood up one by one to explain why they skipped the vote on the land acquisition bill in Lok Sabha last week. PM Narendra Modi was also present at the meeting.
The MPs, including MoS Babul Supriyo, faced embarrassing >> P10 moments at the BJP’s parliamentary party meeting with parliamentary affairs minister M Venkaiah Naidu reading out names of the MPs who gave the crucial session a miss despite the party issuing a whip.
Sultanpur MP Varun Gandhi, Mumbai North Central MP Poonam Mahajan, Beed MP Pritam Munde (daughter of late Gopinath Munde) and Sidhi MP Rithi Pathak were among those pulled up for their absence.
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