The government is confident it will be able to sail through with the Finance Bill and most of its economic agenda, including the SBI (amendment) Bill, in the current budget session despite the withdrawal of support by the Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal over the re-introduction of Women?s Reservation Bill in Rajya Sabha on Monday.
The government claims it has 276 MPs with it in the Lok Sabha and that the figure could rise. Sources said on the budget business, which will include the vote on account slated for this week, the government will get the support of the BJP as well. But this will make it difficult for the government to insist on maintaining the hike in petrol and diesel prices it made as part of the Budget proposals. The BJP has strongly opposed the hike.
Apart from the crucial Finance Bill to give effect to the Budget proposals, the passage of several economic Bills that the government is keen to get through Parliament could actually get easier because of the new composition. The Bills include the Insurance Laws Amendment Bill, the Life Insurance Amendment Bill (to raise LIC?s capital to Rs 100 crore from Rs 5 crore.), the Banking Regulation Amendment Bill and the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill, the State Bank of India (Subsidiary Banks) Amendment Bill, the State Bank of Saurashtra (Repeal) and State Bank of India (Subsidiary Banks) Amendment Bill and the Micro Financial Sector (Development and Regulation) Bill.
The Banking Regulation Bill intends to remove the 10% voting rights cap in the private banks. The pension Bill seeks statutory backing for the interim pension regulator.
On the Women?s Reservation Bill, government managers said there are already signs of fissures in both RJD and the SP over the stand taken by their leadership. Since neither the present composition of the Lok Sabha nor the existing political equations would allow the government to be easily pulled down, this is expected to weigh heavily on the two parties that stridently oppose the women?s Bill in the current form.
The contentious Bill was first proposed 14 years ago. The Bill seeks to reserve a third of all seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies for women. As soon as law minister Veerappa Moily tabled the Bill in the Rajya Sabha, angry members from SP and RJD determinedly stalled the proceedings, forcing Chairman Hamid Ansari to adjourn the House five times before finally adjourning it for the day. The crucial voting on the Bill did not take place. A ruckus in Lok Sabha over the Bill, where it is to be introduced at a later date, led to its adjournment also. The Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has convened an all-party meeting on Tuesday to decide on the next course of action.