Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan calls all party meeting on Sunday

New Delhi: Amid all indications that the next session beginning Monday is set to be a stormy affair, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan has called an all party meeting on Sunday to ensure smooth functioning of Parliament.

The session begins in the middle of a raging political controversy over the Uttarkhand political crisis in which Centre’s role has come in for scathing criticism.

The session, which commences on April 25, is in fact the second part of the Budget session but since both the Houses were prorogued after the first part of it beginning February 23 and coming to an end on March 16, this will be a new session.

It will be the eigth 8th session of 16 Lok Sabha and 239th session of Rajya Sabha.

Drought in ten states and the resultant water scarcity will also be raised in a big way by the Opposition parties, some of whom have already given notice in this regard to the Chair.

Congress is bracing to attack the government and rope in other opposition parties on the Uttarakhand issue.

Congress’s deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma yesterday gave the notice to Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari under Rule 267 for taking up the resolution after suspending all business.

The resolution seeks to “deplore” the “destabilisation” of the democratically elected government in Uttarakhand and ”disapprove” the “unjustified” imposition of President’s Rule there under Article 356 of the Constitution.

Read Also: Rajya Sabha also prorogued to end parliament budget session

Government is also bracking for disruptions by Congress at least in the first few days on the Uttarakhand issue.

The Supreme Court today stayed till April 27 the judgement of the Uttarakhand High Court quashing the imposition of President’s rule, giving a new turn to the continuing political drama in the state by restoring the Central rule there.

Congress is trying to project the imposition of President’s rule in Uttarakhand and in another party-ruled state Arunachal Pradesh earlier as an “attack” on federal structure and is hopeful that a large number of Opposition parties will back it in cornering the government on the issue.

The government also does not seem to be in a mood to back out on the issue and is likely to counter the charge by giving details of imposition of President’s rule in a number of states during the successive regimes of Congress while justifiying the same in Uttarakhand citing “Constitutional
breakdown”.

On the drought issue, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha and senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and his party colleauges besides AU Singh Deo (BJD), K C Tyagi(JDU), Satish Chandra Mishra (BSP), independent member Rajeev Chandrasekhar and nominated member KTS Tulsi have already given a notice to Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari to take it up for discussion.

The notice seeks a discussion on the “serious situation arising out of prevailing drought and heat wave conditions and resultant water crisis in the country and the remedial measures taken by the Government in regard thereto.”

The notice has been admitted under Rule 177 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business and the issue will be discussed on April 27.

Claiming that the Centre has no serious plan in place to tackle drought, CPI had already demanded that the government should convene an all party meeting to discuss the calamity and figure out ways to combat it.

Congress demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should call a meeting of chief ministers of drought-hit states to tackle the situation on a war-footing.