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Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan has called an all-party meeting on Monday on the logjam that has gripped the monsoon session of Parliament. Amid the standoff last week that had ruling party and opposition legislators waving placards, shouting slogans and some wearing black bands, the Speaker had warned that she would not hesitate to use all the powers at her command to ensure the Lok Sabha is allowed to function. MPs interpreted that as the possible use of marshals in case placards were waved and physical eviction of MPs was necessary.
But there is another option that is being openly discussed within the Bharatiya Janata Party is to adjourn the two Houses indefinitely either on Monday or by the end of the week. Their MPs feel they would be better served working in Bihar ahead of the elections. In the Rajya Sabha, Chairman Hamid Ansari is clear he would not allow Bills to pass amid a din.
If this happens, it will be a first for the two Houses that have broken records in efficiency and performance during the Budget session of Parliament.
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AAP wants panel to probe police
Tuesday will see a one-day special session of the Delhi Assembly to form a panel to probe "police inaction" in cases of crimes against women in the national capital. The decision to hold such a session was taken by the Aam Aadmi Party after Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi reportedly refused to share details regarding crimes against women with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
"The Delhi government has decided to call a special session to propose the setting up of an inquiry commission to probe what action will be taken in these cases (crime against women)," Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia told reporters last week.
A resolution to set up the commission of inquiry would be moved and put to vote in the one-day Assembly session. The stabbing of a 19-year-old woman on July 16 in the Anand Parbat locality of central Delhi brought the issue of women's safety into focus, pitting the Kejriwal government against Delhi Police.
Goa Assembly likely to see fireworks
The 10th session of the Goa legislative Assembly will begin on Monday . It is likely to be an extremely fractious session because it is the first after the US Department of Justice revealed that bribes had been paid for a Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)-funded Goa Water Supply and Sewerage Project for which Louis Berger - which is now facing bribery charges in the US - was appointed as consultant to monitor its implementation.
"The instance of corruption has been proved in this case through judgment of the US court. There is no doubt that bribe was paid," Inspector General of Police Sunil Garg told reporters in Panaji last week after the state crime branch filed an FIR against an unidentified minister and officials of US-based company Louis Berger under the Anti-Corruption Act.
In India, the company admitted to bribing at least one Goa minister and several officials of that state - together almost a million dollars - and in Guwahati in 2009 and 2010. The company had a project each in the two states, which, the settlement announcement by the department of justices said, were both won with the help of bribes. The US justice department will provide the names of those who got the bribes provided the government of India asks for these. This matter is sure to come up during the session.
Eye on Bengaluru municipal polls
Elections to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) will be held on Tuesday and results will be announced three days later. The elections will reveal how popular the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress are in an urban areas like Bengaluru. Assembly elections in Karnataka are scheduled in 2018.
The not-so-subtle tussle in the Congress in Karnataka between Chief Minister Siddaramiah and state Congress chief G Parameshwara was evident when each tried to say they had invited party Vice-President Rahul Gandhi to Karnataka and he had accepted the invitation in principle. Gandhi was here en route to Andhra Pradesh last week.
In the past one month, about 90 farmers, many dejected at the falling demand for sugarcane and other crops, have committed suicide because of debt. Gandhi has toured non-Congress-ruled states like Punjab, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Telangana to console families and attack the ruling governments. He has not visited Karnataka.
The Congress plans to arrange a padayatra in Mandya, which has recorded the highest number of suicides. He will console families of a few farmers there and in north Karnataka. This will happen after the Parliament session.
