Lok Sabha session to begin today

The highlight of the LS session, which ends on October 29, would be the Speaker’s election and the vote on the motion of thanks to the President’s address to the joint sitting of the House on October 25.

The Speaker’s election is scheduled for October 22 and according to present indications the incumbent G M C Balayogi of Telugu Desam is likely to get a second term in view of the clout his party is expected to wield following its decision to give outside support of 29 MPs to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government.

Balayogi’s election as speaker in the last Lok Sabha had been dramatic. He had rushed in from Hyderabad just before the deadline to file his nomination as a quid pro quo for Telugu Desam Party extending support to the minority Vajpayee government.

It will be interesting to see who will get the deputy speaker’s post – the ruling side or the Opposition. In the last Lok Sabha, the post had to be conceded to the main Opposition – Congress – as the BJP did not want a division in the ruling combine.

Other highlights of the session will include the maiden entry of Sonia Gandhi, targeted by the BJP and its allies for her foreign origin and her possible accession to the post of Leader of the Opposition.

Both the Houses of parliament will discuss the President’s address containing the policies and programmes of the new government which will have to be adopted.

Incidentally, Atal Behari Vajpayee will be the first Prime Minister outside the Nehru-Gandhi family to occupy the highest political office for a third time.