Oppn stalls RS, LS

Won’t let Parliament function till Sushma, Raje removed: Congress

New Delhi: The first day's Monsoon ‘muqabala’ was a wash out for the ruling BJP as its hopes of a smooth functioning evaporated in the heat of resignation demands by the Opposition. Facing heat inside and out of the House, a beleaguered Narendra Modi on Tuesday pleaded with the allies to cooperate and put up a united show in Parliament in countering the Opposition.

He also advised his allies to "approach him directly in case of coalition problems" instead of his party, yet again making his point that he is omnipotent in the party.With a good section of the senior leadership of the party itself remaining unhappy over Modi's authoritative style of functioning, there seems to be little that the Modi-Amit Shah combine could do now except plead with friends having already positioned to defend his leaders whose probity is being questioned.

Earlier, the spokesperson of the Shiv Sena, Sanjay Raut, reportedly lashed out at the BJP in a coordination meeting of the allies by terming it a first ever such exercise in 14 months. Upendra Kushwaha of the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party, an ally of the BJP in Bihar, too, was critical of Modi's style.

Their complaint was that "Modi everywhere attitude would not help" as they were never taken on board in any issue or policy matter. The prescription for the same was "more of Modi ", they realised. In the normal course, that should have been left to the party president to deal with. Inside the House, the plot of the story line remained the same with the Opposition insisting on the resignations of Chauhan, Raje and Sushma and also that of Smriti Irani, for her alleged fake certificates, the Government tried to turn the tables on the former by readily agreeing for the debate.

The majority of the Opposition worked against the interests of the BJP in the Rajya Sabha and a spirited attack in the Lok Sabha stalled the proceedings for the day amid chaos. What is at stake for the Government are the following key Bills listed for Business during the Monsoon session:

The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill, 2015, the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill, 2014, the Delhi High Court (Amendment) Bill, 2015, the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2014 are pending in Lok Sabha.

In Rajya Sabha, the Constitution (122nd) Amendment Bill, 2014 relating to GST, the Whistle Blower Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2015, the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2013, the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Bill, 2015, the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2012, the Appropriation Act (Repeal) Bill, the Readjustment of Representation of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in Parliamentary, Assembly Constituencies (Third) Bill, 2014 are pending.

The new Bills to be introduced this session if the House functions at all are the following ones: the Consumer Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2015, the Constitution (Amendment) Bills, 2015, the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2015, the High Court and Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Services), the National Commission for Women Bill, 2015 and the Human Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid (DNA) Profiling Bill, 2015.

By:W Chandrakanth