Feb 5: Fun begins

So it’s final. Keen to cash in on what it calls the feel-good buzz nationwide, its recent victories and confusion in the alliance-hunti...

So it’s final. Keen to cash in on what it calls the feel-good buzz nationwide, its recent victories and confusion in the alliance-hunting Opposition, the Atal Behari Vajpayee government today set the ball rolling for an early Lok Sabha poll.

It announced it would convene the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on January 29 and 30 respectively, for passing general and Railways interim budgets.

Speaking at a hurriedly-convened press conference tonight, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said the two Houses would remain in session until February 5.

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Although elections haven’t been formally announced, this schedule fits in with what Vajpayee had said at the BJP national executive: that the new Government would be in place by the end of April.

When asked if the Lok Sabha would be dissolved immediately after the session, Swaraj said this would be a decision taken by the Prime Minister in consultation with his Cabinet colleagues.

Swaraj said the 13th Lok Sabha, therefore, will now have a total of five sittings and the Rajya Sabha four.

There will be three holidays in between, from January 31 to February 2. The Lok Sabha will be adjourned on the first day after making an obituary reference to sitting CPI member Bhan Singh Bhaura.

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Railways Minister Nitish Kumar will present the Railways vote-on-account in the Lok Sabha on January 30. Its copy will be tabled in the Rajya Sabha the same day. The general vote-on-account will be presented by Finance Minister Jaswant Singh in the Lok Sabha on February 3. A copy of the general vote-on-account will be simultaneously tabled in the Rajya Sabha.

The railways vote-on-account will be discussed and passed by the Lok Sabha on January 3 and the general vote-on-account on January 4. The Rajya Sabha may discuss them simultaneously or later, Swaraj added.

The minister said the Finance Minister would only make a statement and not a budget speech as there would be no taxation proposals in the vote-on-account.

The announcement came after Prime Minister Vajpayee called on President A P J Kalam at the Rashtrapati Bhawan tonight and informed him of the Government’s decision.

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Swaraj first met with Finance Minister and Railways Minister Nitish Kumar to have their final word on their preparedness for their interim budgets. She clarified that the Government was not convening a new or a special session. Since Parliament had not been prorogued, it would be treated as a second part of the winter session.

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