PM Modi asks BJP MPs to aggressively defend govt on JNU issue

New Delhi: After President's address to members of both Houses of Parliament yesterday, the legislative business of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha will begin today. Issues relating to JNU and Hyderabad University will come up for discussion today.

In Rajya Sabha, discussion will take place on the situation arising in the central institutions of higher education with specific reference to Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and University of Hyderabad. It will be discussed in the Lok Sabha tomorrow after the presentation of Rail Budget.

Today, in the Lok Sabha, motion of thanks on the President's address will be moved. The Election Laws amendment bill is also scheduled to be introduced in the Lower House today.

In Rajya Sabha, The National Waterways Bill, The Carriage by Air (Amendment) Bill, The Bureau of Indian Standards Bill is scheduled to come up for discussion and passage today.

Also Read: Budget session: Will our MPs listen to President and allow Parliament to function smoothly?

On Tuesday, the BJP leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided on an aggressive strategy to counter the opposition in Parliament on JNU row and the suicide by Dalit student Rohith Vemula in Hyderabad University. The BJP parliamentary executive committee met yesterday evening and decided to counter the opposition aggressively over the issues.

Sources also said that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley briefed the leaders on the legal aspects of the JNU row and Hyderabad University issue. Rajya Sabha member Bhupendra Yadav will be the first speaker from BJP as he has been dealing with these issues within the party. After this meeting, a meeting of the NDA leaders took place which was also attended by BJP president Amit Shah.

The JNU has been on the boil after a police crackdown on students accused of shouting anti-India slogans, while Hyderabad Central University had erupted into protests against alleged harassment of Dalit students following the suicide on January 17 of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula, who was one of the five suspended for clashing with an ABVP leader.

Govt keen to push legislative agenda

The government has agreed to discuss all the issues as it wants to avoid a repeat of the monsoon and winter sessions, where little work got done. The government has a heavy legislative agenda to push through in this session. A list of 74 items of business has been compiled by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs on the basis of responses received from various ministries and departments which contain 62 legislative items and 12 financial items. It was decided to give 26 items 'top priority' as the ministries wanted them to be introduced and passed in the Budget session itself.

A total of 16 bills, including the GST Bill, Lokpal (Amendment) Bill, Factories (Amendment) Bill and the Anti-Hijacking Bill are pending in Parliament -- five in Lok Sabha and 11 in the Rajya Sabha.

The government will also push for the passage of a bill to replace the ordinance to amend the Enemy Property Act, which was promulgated on January 8. An ordinance lapses 42 days/6 weeks from the day a session begins unless a bill to replace it is cleared by Parliament. The ordinance amends the 47-year-old Enemy Property Act to allow custodians to continue to retain control over such properties.

The Budget Session commenced yesterday and will focus largely on the financial business of the government. The General Budget will be presented on February 29. The first part of Budget Session will end on March 16 and the second part will be convened from April 25 to May 13.