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Journalism of Courage
Putting an end to all speculation about the possibility of mid-term polls this year, the Government on Tuesday decided to hold the next session of Parliament from October 17 to November 21. The next Lok Sabha election now looks set to be held in February or April next year.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs CCPA, chaired by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, on Tuesday. The five-week session will be the second phase of the two-day session held on July 21-22, which saw the Manmohan Singh Government winning the trust vote.
8220;Lok Sabha is not prorogued and it will be the continuation of the earlier session,8221; Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi told reporters after the CCPA meeting. He skirted queries as to whether it would be the last session of the 14th Lok Sabha.
While the last session was to resume from August 11, the Government had decided to defer it apparently in view of the fragile majority that it had managed to secure in the trust vote.
Vayalar Ravi told The Indian Express that the session could not be resumed from August 11 because 8220;in between the trust motion came and the whole thing had to be rescheduled8221;.
Justifying the latest schedule of the session, he said the Prime Minister had to go to the United Nations and then to Europe and would be back only by September-end. Then the External Affairs Minister had some international engagements.
