DNA Edit - No More Business

There is little or no chance of business likely to be conducted in this winter session of Parliament either in the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha. In effect, it makes this is the last full session of Parliament, before the country goes to poll next year. The session, which began on December 11, will wind up on January 8. 

The underlying sense in political circles is that the opposition is going to go all out to prove that the Narendra Modi government is a lame duck one. With the demand of a JPC into the Rafale deal a constant refrain from the opposition benches, any passing of important bill or bills should be considered a foregone conclusion. The government is equally adamant on not allowing any such probe - and certainly not after the Supreme Court judgment on Rafale. In other words, it is curtains as far as the sixteenth Parliament session is concerned. By doing so, the opposition knows it will be left with a truncated Budget session in February, where the chances of any big bill transacted or any major announcements made, are not possible.

By the time that session is over, the mood will be even more geared towards elections than it is now. Political sources indicate that by not allowing any business in the two Houses of Parliament and the resultant logjam, the Congress-led opposition will go all out to prove that it is the beginning of the end of the Modi government. The BJP-led government will be left with no option but to make appeals to the opposition’s good sense, as the Prime Minister did last week, aware in the knowledge that it will be tantamount to nothing. Undoubtedly, in the days to come, an evaluation will prove that the Sixteenth Lok Sabha conducted very little legislation. It was marked by constant ruling party-opposition bickering that did no one’s image any good.