Winter session of Parliament to be held from 15 December

Congress itself had rescheduled Parliament sessions several times, says Arun Jaitley

What’s hot this winter?
The winter session of Parliament will begin this week, from Friday. One of the issues to be raised will be the delay and scheduling of the session. Congress leader Sonia Gandhi set the tone when she told the Congress Working Committee that “the Modi government in its arrogance has cast a dark shadow on India’s Parliamentary democracy by sabotaging the winter session on flimsy grounds”. This was countered by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley who said the Congress itself had rescheduled Parliament sessions several times. “(The) timing is decided such that they do not overlap with election campaigns. (Congress) did so in 2011, and even before that,” the BJP leader said.

 
Gujarat vote matrix
In the second phase of the Gujarat election, 14 districts will go to polls on Thursday, Ahmedabad being one of them. 93 Assembly seats will elect their MLAs. The cooperative belt of central Gujarat had once been the stronghold of the Congress party. Central districts around Vadodara have seats with a substantial tribal population. The Congress needs to tap that group to turn the region into one of its bastions. According to the CSDS-ABP poll, in central Gujarat, the Congress is estimated to get 38 per cent votes, while the BJP is set to get 54 per cent. In north Gujarat, the Congress is expected to fetch 49 per cent of votes and the poll gives the BJP 44 per cent vote share.       BS reporters