GEIS-新闻详情

Government convenes Special Session of Parliament, speculations on agenda arise. All you need to know

2023-09-09 00:00:00.0 铸币报-政治原网页

The government has convened a special session of Parliament for five days between 18-22 September 2023, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said on Thursday. There was no official word on the agenda behind the special session which will be held days after the G20 Summit in the national capital on September 9 and 10. Amid Amrit Kaal looking forward to having fruitful discussions and debate in Parliament," Pralhad Joshi said on X (formerly Twitter).

The announcement of the Special Session came as a surprise in political circles with the parties gearing up for assembly polls in five states later this year.

This is the first such special session under the nine years of the Modi-led government which had convened a special joint sitting of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha to mark the midnight GST roll-out on June 30, 2017. However, it will be a full-fledged session of five days this time with both Houses meeting separately as they usually do during sessions. Generally, three parliamentary sessions are held in a year- Budget, Monsoon and Winter sessions.

Early Lok Sabha elections?

After the announcement was made by Parliamentary Affairs Minister, speculations on the agenda for the five-day session began to circulate. One of the agenda items speculated upon was dissolving the current Parliament and announcement of early Lok Sabha elections, as reported by news agency ANI. This decision, however, can be brought about by a cabinet decision and therefore convening a special sitting of Parliament if early Lok Sabha elections was indeed the agenda, was not a requirement.

However, what could be part of the BJP government’s plan as per sources is that the government would put forth its achievements of the past five years and explain to the people via the parliament session the need to hold snap polls along with state elections that are scheduled to be held this year, ANI has reported.

However all this is only a matter of speculation sources told ANI, confirming that no one is quite sure what the agenda is for the parliament session next month.

Some of the other agenda items that were in this speculative list included a discussion on the Centre’s recent achievements, including the G20 Leaders' summit in Delhi and success of Chandrayaan-3 mission, under the second term of PM Modi coined as ‘Amrit Kaal’, a term used to denote a ‘Golden’ period of governance. Also in the possible agenda list was introduction of the ‘One Nation, One Election’ bill, which as the name suggests would mean simultaneous state and general elections.

Opposition on special Parliament session:

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said that maybe it is an indicator of a 'little panic'. "I think maybe it is an indicator of a little panic. The same type of panic that happened when I spoke in Parliament House, the panic that suddenly made them revoke my Parliament membership," a Congress leader said in Mumbai. Addressing a press conference in Mumbai, Rahul Gandhi said matters like that of allegations against Adani Group are “very close" to PM Modi, making him “uncomfortable" and “very nervous".

Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said, "Central Government doesn't consult anyone, it doesn't talk to any political party...Central Government is strangulating democracy like this."

Reacting to the development, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, in a post on X, said the demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the allegations against the Adani Group, however, will continue to resonate inside and outside Parliament. "Managing the News Cycle, Modi style. 1. News today has been dominated by latest revelations on the Modani-scam. 2. Tomorrow the ever-growing INDIA parties meet in Mumbai. How to counter? Announce a 5-day special session of Parliament when Monsoon session has just ended 3 weeks back. Regardless, the JPC demand will continue to resonate inside and outside Parliament," he said.

AIMIM president and Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owaisi said, “We hope the PM will allow a discussion on China."

(With inputs from ANI, PTI)