New Delhi [India] : The 25-day Winter Session of parliament, during which 36 bills are expected to be passed including one to cancel the farm laws, will begin today. The opposition is likely to corner the government on issues including the Pegasus row and price rise. Minutes after parliament convened for the Winter Session, Lok Sabha was adjourned amid slogans over the contentious farm laws. In Rajya Sabha, however, the session was disrupted to pay tributes to senior Congress leader Oscar Fernandes. Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said his government is ready to reply all questions as he underlined, “Whatever voices are raised against the government or government policies – the dignity of parliament and the Speaker’s Chair should be upheld.” In the 19 sittings of the Winter Session, the government is expected to introduce 36 legislative Bills and one Finance Bill. The Farm Laws Repeal Bill has been listed for introduction and passage in the Lok Sabha on the first day. It will be introduced by the Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar. The ruling BJP and the opposition Congress have issued whips to their MP’s to be present on the day. The other bills to be passed in the session include the crucial Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy (Second Amendment) Bill, 2021, and the Electricity (Amendment) Bill. Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday skipped the all-party meeting. Denying it was a break in tradition, Parliamentary Affairs minister Pralhad Joshi said, “There was no tradition of Prime Minister attending the all-party meeting. It was started by Modi ji“. Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress’s leader in the Rajya Sabha, said they were expecting the Prime Minister to attend. “We wanted to ask more about the farm laws as there are some apprehensions that these three laws may again come in some other form,” he said. On Sunday, 31 parties attended the meeting, but the Aam Aadmi Party walked out in the middle of it. Sanjay Singh, who was representing the party, said he was not allowed to speak. The National People’s Party’s Agatha Sangma, who is the Lok Sabha MP from Meghalaya, requested the government to repeal Citizenship Amendment Act in the upcoming session of Parliament. The Trinamool Congress – expanding rapidly at the cost of the Congress — on Sunday assured that it will remain a part of the united opposition, allaying concerns of rift ahead of the winter session. Senior party leader Derek O’Brien, however, said, “There is a distinction between the RJD, DMK, RJD and the CPM- they are all electoral allies of the Congress. The NCP-Shiv Sena and JMM run a government with the Congress…The Congress is not our electoral ally nor are we running a government with them. That’s the difference”.
