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Budget session: Challenges mount for BJP-led alliance after Delhi debacle
The BJP's drubbing in Delhi elections is likely to cast its shadow on
the legislative agenda of the NDA government with opposition parties
expected to join hands against the ruling alliance on a range of issues
including some ordinances that have to be replaced with bills.
The
important budget session, which begins Feb 23, will see a push by the
government for passage of the bills that will replace six ordinances
promulgated since the last sitting of parliament. The government has
given varied reasons for the ordinances including the need for deepening
the reform process in the economy. An ordinance was also apparently
aimed at Delhi elections.
An ordinance must be replaced by a law within six weeks of the re-assembly of the two houses for it not to lapse.
With
the ruling alliance not in a majority in the Rajya Sabha, Congress
leaders said it will not be easy for the government to get some of the
bills aimed at replacing ordinances passed. The party is strongly
opposed to changes in the land acquisition act and has voiced its
reservations on some other ordinances.
Congress MP and former
union minister Rajeev Shukla said "the party will try to forge unity
among opposition parties on various issues in the budget session."
Shukla
also said that the government has lost political momentum after the
Delhi results. "The results show how soon the government has started
facing unpopularity. People feel that promises made to them have not
been fulfilled," Shukla told IANS.
The BJP's campaign for Feb 7
elections in Delhi was largely centered around Prime Minister Narendra
Modi though former IPS officer Kiran Bedi was named chief ministerial
candidate about two weeks before the polling day. The BJP could win only
three of 70 seats in Delhi causing a shock in the party rank and file.
The party had earlier registered good performances in Haryana,
Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir.
Biju Janata Dal
leader in the Lok Sabha Bhartruhari Mahtab said that the ruling
Bharatiya Janata Party will be on the back foot during the session due
to poor showing in Delhi elections.
"BJP was unable to retain its
support in Delhi (compared to Lok Sabha polls). It was unable to
convince those who had high hopes from the BJP-led government at the
Centre," Mahtab told IANS.
Asked about the possibility of the
government convening a joint session of parliament if a bill was
defeated in the Rajya Sabha, Mahtab said "joint session is not an
answer."
He said the government wants that its majority in Lok
Sabha to be respected and should do do so for Rajya Sabha where it does
not have majority.
Mahtab said his party has objections to the
ordinance concerning mines and minerals and would see if the government
addresses them in the bill.
Opposition parties have accused the government of resorting to "ordinance raj" and showing authoritarian tendencies.
According
to PRS Legislative, which tracks work of parliament, six ordinances
have been promulgated for the past about two months. These are coal
mines (special provisions) second ordinance, insurance laws amendment
ordinance, right to fair compensation and transparency in land
acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement (amendment) ordinance, the
citizenship (amendment) ordinance, motor vehicles (amendment) ordinance
and mines and mineral (development and regulation) ordinance.
In
remarks that were seen as a caution to the government, President Pranab
Mukherjee had last month said that the Constitution provided for
promulgation of ordinance in extraordinary situation.
The ordinances, he said, can be issued to "meet certain exigencies and under compelling circumstances".
Communist
Party of India leader D. Raja said that people have conveyed their
disapproval over decisions of the Modi government and also "rejected
sectarian, divisive politics of BJP." .
"The government has taken
ordinance route on substantial policy matters whether it is land bill,
FDI in insurance or coal allocation," Raja told IANS.
Raja said the government was planning to cut down on subsidies but the Delhi results will force a rethink.
He
said that even if the government is able to get the ordinances passed
in the Lok Sabha, the Rajya Sabha was not likely to approve them.
Janata Dal-United leader K. C. Tyagi said "morale of opposition will be high" during the budget session.
BJP
spokesperson Nalin Kohli said he did not see a relation of Delhi poll
results with the budget session and National Democratic Alliance had
been given a mandate for five years.
The government is expected
to push for passage of bills to replace ordinances in the first half of
the budget session which will continue till March 20. The second part of
budget session will commence after a month-long recess from April 20
and conclude May 8.
(Prashant Sood can be contacted at [email protected])