On the eve of the five-day Special Session of Parliament, the Narendra Modi government held a meeting with floor leaders of all parties on Sunday to brief floor leaders of different parties and hear their views ahead of the session. The all-party meeting was held in the Parliament library building.
Opposition parties pitched for the passage for the Women’s Reservation Bill, which seeks to reserve one-third of all seats for women in the Lok Sabha and the state legislative assemblies.
Leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, after the all-party meeting, said, “All Opposition parties demanded passage of women’s reservation bill in this Parliament session,” reports PTI.
The same demand was echoed by Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Praful Patel. He added that the Parliament will shift to new building on auspicious occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi on September 19.
Several regional parties including the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) also pushed for tabling of the women’s reservation bill.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, the deputy leader of the House in Lok Sabha; Union Minister Piyush Goyal, the leader of the House in Rajya Sabha; and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi represented the government in the meeting.
Former prime minister and JD(S) leader H D Deve Gowda, DMK’s Kanimozhi, TDP’s Ram Mohan Naidu, TMC’s Derek O’Brien, AAP’s Sanjay Singh, BJD’s Sasmit Patra, BRS’ K Keshava Rao, YSR Congress Party’s V Vijayasai Reddy, RJD’s Manoj Jha and JD(U)’s Anil Hegde and SP’s Ram Gopal Yadav were also among those who attended the meeting.
Parliament Special Session
There is intense buzz on whether the government will have some surprise item up its sleeve during the five-day sitting that will see a discussion on Parliament’s 75-year journey and take up for consideration four bills, including the controversial bill on the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and other election commissioners.
With Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar hoisted the national flag at the new Parliament building on Sunday morning, the development is being seen as a precursor to Parliament shifting to its new home during the session. He was joined by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and other union ministers. However, Congress president and Leader of Opposition in the Parliament Mallikarjun Kharge did not attend it. In a letter, he expressed “disappointment” over receiving the invite “quite late” in the evening, and it was not “feasible” for him to attend it, as the Congress Working Committee meeting was underway in Telangana’s Hyderabad.
In a surprise move, on August 31, union Parliamentary Affairs minister Pralhad Joshi had announced about the Special Session of Parliament, mentioning that it will be held from September 18-22, and will have five sittings. However, the agenda was kept the wraps, drawing intense criticism from Opposition parties.
Agenda of Parliament Special Session
Days later, the government brought the agenda list and said that the stand out feature of the Special Session is a discussion on Parliament’s journey of 75 years starting from the “Samvidhan Sabha” (Constituent Assembly). Interestingly, the government enjoys the prerogative of tabling in Parliament some new legislation or other items that might not have been part of the listed agenda.
The government has also listed the bill on the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and other election commissioners to be taken up for consideration and passage during the session.
The list of bills also includes ‘The Advocates (Amendment) Bill, 2023’ and ‘The Press and Registration of Periodicals Bill, 2023’, already passed by Rajya Sabha on August 3, 2023.
The Advocates (Amendment) Bill, 2023 amends the Advocates Act, 1961, while the Press and Registration of Periodicals Bill, 2023 repeals the Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867.
Besides, ‘The Post Office Bill, 2023’ has also been listed in the Lok Sabha business. The bill was earlier introduced in Rajya Sabha on 10 August 2023 and it repeals the Indian Post Office Act, 1898.
What has added to the anticipation around the session is that the Special Session of Parliament will begin at the old Parliament building on September 18, and move to the new Parliament building from the next day onwards.
New Parliament building dresscode
The new building which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Modi on May 28. Various departments of parliamentary staff are all set to don new uniforms in a signal from the government that the shift to the new building is likely to be marked with a fresh start in more ways than one.
The new dress code with floral motif for a section of staff has already kicked up a political row, with the Congress dubbing it as a “cheap” tactic to promote the ruling party’s poll symbol – the lotus flower.
While announcing the session, Joshi had described it as “special session”. But the government had later made it clear that it was a regular session, 13th session of the present Lok Sabha and 261st session of Rajya Sabha.