Speaker,
party leaders optimistic about budget session
Saturday February 19, 2011 08:30:22 PM,
IANS
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New Delhi: Lok Sabha
Speaker Meira Kumar and leaders of various parties hope that the
budget session of parliament beginning Monday will sail smoothly
unlike the stormy winter session that was washed away in the loud
protests over corruption scandals.
"I am very optimistic. I feel there is a consensus among party
leaders that parliament should function smmothly," Meira Kumar
told IANS.
The speaker will hold a customay luncheon meeting here with the
leaders of various parties Sunday where she is expected to urge
them for restoration of normalcy in parliament functioning.
The government will in a day or two take a decision on the issue
of a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into the 2G
spectrum scandal, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Bansal told
reporters at a pre-session press conference here Friday.
However, political circles say the government has already agreed
to form a JPC.
The 23-day winter session in November-December last year was
virtually washed out as the opposition party members persistently
protested, demanding the JPC on 2G spectrum scam.
Research groups have calculated that the national exchequer
suffered a loss of Rs.171 crore due to the disuption of
parliamentary work in the winter session.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, a known trouble-shooter for the
government, indicated at an all-party meeting Feb 8 that the
government was now ready for a JPC.
He is reported to have told some party leaders that the government
was ready to pay any price for smooth conduct of parliament.
The opposition has also demanded JPC probes into the Commonwealth
Games scandal and the Adarsh Housing Society scam.
Bansal ruled out JPCs into other scandals. "They (the opposition
leaders) know that the JPC is constituted only to look into one
issue," he said.
Even the BJP, which led the protests in the winter session, is
hopeful of a normal budget session.
"We are optimistic that the government will announce a JPC at the
outset and help conduct the session. We will play the role of a
constructive oppposition," BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman
told IANS.
However, she cautioned that the party will take up other scandals.
"We will take up the Commonwealth Games scam, Adarsh scam."
Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader P. Karunakaran
said there would be protests in the budget session too. "We will
corner the government over the issues of price rise and the plight
of the poor," Karnuanakaran told IANS.
While the political leaders look forward to a fruitful budget
session, the 'aam admi' (ordinary people) is least interested in
the goings-on.
"What difference does it make to us whether parliament functions
or not. Both ways, it is a waste," said Mohinder Singh, a resident
of Old Rajinder Nagar in New Delhi.
Delhi University student Sahasranshu Mahapatra said: "There is no
shortage of laws in India. Even if parliament passes new laws, one
has to wait for proper implementation."
The six-week budget session is scheduled to take up 62 bills,
other than dealing with the main financial business -
presentation, discussion and passage of the general budget and the
railway budget.
The session will conclude April 21 with a break from March 17 to
April 3.
Political pundits and policy analysts are waiting to see how the
budget session goes off.
"If the budget session is disrupted seriously, the image of
India's democracy - the largest in the world - will get a hit,"
said political analyst Yogesh Vajpeyi.
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