Eye on key bills, govt extends session

NEW DELHI: The ongoing winter session in the Rajya Sabha has been extended by another day and will now end on January 9, even as the government is scrambling to pass key bills including the one on Triple Talaq and amendments to the Citizenship Act.

The extra day, BJP functionaries claimed, will be used for the passage of the citizenship law amendment bill and to give a final push to the Triple Talaq bill.

A senior minister told HT that in the Lok Sabha too, the government is hopeful for an extension of one or two days. Opposition parties, including the Congress, have opposed any extension as they do not want to give any leeway to the government to push new legislations.

The issue of extension of this session, earlier scheduled to end on Tuesday, has assumed significance in the wake of the union cabinet’s decision to bring a bill reserving 10 % of government jobs and slots in educational institutions for the economically weaker sections (EWS) among general category.

The ruling dispensation wants to clear the bill, aimed to placate the upper caste vote bank of the BJP ahead of the general election.

Officials close to Rajya Sabha chairman Venkaiah Naidu told HT that senior ministers approached him with an appeal to extend the session for another day to complete essential business. . Naidu, after consulting

others, decided to add one more day.

The government made a similar proposal at the Business Advisory Committee meeting of the Lok Sabha on Monday afternoon. Parliamentary affairs minister Narendra Singh Tomar said that

an extension of one or two days may be given as the NDA government wants to complete some pending business. Congress, along with other Opposition parties such as the Trinamool and Left promptly rejected the proposal.