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Parliament's winter session likely to be stormy

November 30, 2004 14:08 IST

The winter session of Parliament beginning on Wednesday is likely to be stormy, with the Bharatiya Janata Party seeking to make an issue out of Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati's arrest and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief Shibu Soren's re-induction into the Cabinet.

The BJP has also decided to move an adjournment motion over the spat between Union ministers Lalu Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan.

"We have written to Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee seeking to move an adjournment motion on the issue on December 2, as the Cabinet has a collective responsibility and this sort of infighting among ministers is against this very concept," BJP deputy leader in the Lok Sabha V K Malhotra said.

He said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh owes an explanation as to how this kind of infighting is being overlooked and why no steps are being taken to deal with it.

The Samajwadi Party, which supports the United Progressive Alliance government from outside, has also been critical of the tussle between Prasad and Paswan and the "failure" of the prime minister to rein them in.

After Soren's re-induction, the BJP had said it would raise the issue, as the "moral fabric of the government is a complete suspect".

Though political parties had assured Chatterjee at a meeting on November 23 that they would ensure the smooth functioning of the House, the BJP said it would raise issues "aggressively, offensively and assertively".

The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance had vociferously raised the issue of "tainted" ministers in the budget session, after an arrest warrant was issued against Soren in a 20-year-old murder case. The proceedings were disrupted for most part of the session and both Houses were adjourned prematurely.

About 20 important bills, including the Patents (Amendment) Bill, are to be introduced in the winter session, which will have 17 sittings. Eleven bills will replace ordinances promulgated during the inter-session period.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram had said efforts were on to ensure that maximum bills were passed.


More reports from Delhi
Read about: Assembly Election 2003 | Attack on Parliament


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