Nine of the Congress’s 48 MPs, including the Gandhis, 13 of the TMC’s 22 members, 16 of the DMK’s 24 MPs, two of the SP’s three MPs, three of the four members of the NCP’s Sharad Pawar faction, two of the CPI(M)’s three MPs, one of the two CPI members, all three IUML MPs, and the lone members from the AAP, VCK, and RSP.
These are the MPs from the INDIA alliance parties left in the Lok Sabha as the standoff between the Treasury and the Opposition drags on in the last few days of the Winter Session. The rancour caused by the record suspensions is likely to get worse as the BJP looks to push through three key criminal law amendment Bills and the CEC Bill that the Rajya Sabha passed last week.
The criminal law amendment Bills seek to replace the Indian Penal Code, the Criminal Procedure Code, and the Indian Evidence Act with the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita, Bharatiya Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam. Union Home Minister Amit Shah is expected to address the House and move that the Bills be passed. Apart from these draft laws, the Lok Sabha is also set to pass the Telecommunications Bill, 2023, and the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023.
When the Rajya Sabha passed the CEC Bill last week, the Opposition staged a walkout. The Bill seeks to regulate the appointment of the Election Commission (EC) by constituting a three-member selection committee comprising the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition or leader of the single largest Opposition party in the Lok Sabha and a Cabinet Minister named by the PM. According to the Opposition MPs, the Bill provides an undue advantage to the government in selecting the CEC and ECs.
In the Rajya Sabha, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will move that the Central Goods and Services Tax (Second Amendment) Bill,2023, be taken into consideration and returned.
Mamata to meet Modi
Meanwhile, a day after the INDIA bloc meeting, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi. Mamata is expected to seek the PM’s intervention in releasing central funds for various projects in the state, including MGNREGS. According to sources, the meeting is scheduled for around 11 am at the Parliament building.
West Bengal and the Centre have been at loggerheads for over a year over Central funds not being released over alleged irregularities in the implementation of schemes. In October, Mamata’s nephew and TMC second-in-command Abhishek Banerjee led a protest by party workers and beneficiaries of central schemes who claimed to have not received any money and then took the protest outside the Raj Bhavan in Kolkata.
Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was in the city till Tuesday night after attending the meeting the INDIA alliance meeting. The AAP leader who was scheduled to leave for a 10-day Vipassana meditation course on Tuesday may now leave on Wednesday morning, according to AAP insiders. He is likely to skip the Enforcement Directorate (ED) summons to appear before it on December 21 in connection with a money laundering case in the Delhi liquor policy case.
— With PTI inputs
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
First published on: 20-12-2023 at 07:02 IST
