Today in Politics: Congress push for Rahul Gandhi’s return to LS, NCT Bill in Rajya Sabha — Parliament logjam to continue

This is how things stand right now. The BJP has 92 MPs, including five nominated ones, and along with its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) allies it has 103 MPs — AIADMK has four MPs and the RPI (Athawale), Asom Gana Parishad, Pattali Makkal Katchi, Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar), National People’s Party, Mizo National Front, United People’s Party (Liberal) have a member each. Add to this the nine MPs each of the BJD and the YSRCP, the NDA easily will cross the current halfway mark of 119 to sit comfortably at 121. This number can go up as parties such as the Bahujan Samaj Party, Telugu Desam Party, Janata Dal (Secular), and Sikkim Democratic Front that have one member each may side with the government.

In comparison, the Congress (31 MPs) and its partners in the 26-party INDIA bloc have at least 98 members on their side, including the Trinamool Congress’s 13 MPs and the DMK and the Aam Aadmi Party’s 10 MPs each. Among others, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has six members, the CPI(M) and Janata Dal (United) five each, and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) four. The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), the ruling party in Telangana that is not part of the INDIA coalition, has also decided to oppose the Bill. It has seven MPs.

Though the battle may be lost, the Congress is preparing to go down with a fight. The party issued a whip to its MPs on August 4, asking them to be present in the Upper House till its adjournment on Monday. The party sent its MPs a reminder on Sunday. “Be present positively in Rajya Sabha from 10.45 am onwards till the adjournment of the House on Monday ie August 7, 2023, and support the party stand, as important items of Legislative Business will be taken up for voting. Three-line whip in this regard has already been issued.”

Given that the Opposition parties are said to be divided over the strategy of stalling House proceedings to force Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address the Rajya Sabha, it will be interesting to see how the vote pans out.

The Rajya Sabha is also scheduled to take up The Registration

of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Bill, 2023, for consideration and passing. The Lok Sabha has already approved the Bill.

In the Lok Sabha, the Congress and others are likely to raise the issue of reinstating Rahul Gandhi’s Lok Sabha membership, Manoj CG reports. On Sunday, the Opposition party hit out at the BJP over the delay in reinstating Gandhi’s status as Lok Sabha MP and said Gandhi might approach the Supreme Court on Tuesday If his membership is not restored today. The Congress wants Gandhi to participate in the no-confidence motion discussion in the Lok Sabha that begins tomorrow.

In the Lower House, the following four Bills are on the Legislative Business list for consideration and passing: The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023; The Anusandhan National Research Foundation

Bill, 2023; The Pharmacy (Amendment) Bill, 2023; and The Mediation Bill, 2023.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate in a National Handloom Day celebration at noon at the Bharat Mandapam convention complex at New Delhi’s Pragati Maidan.

In Karnataka, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will chair two sets of meetings with ministers in charge and the MLAs of the districts of Tumakuru, Yadgir, Chitradurga, Bagalkot, Ballari and Dharwad to sort out local development issues. The meetings are being held following complaints by Congress MLAs that the Congress government is not addressing local issues of development in districts and constituencies of MLAs.

Both Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM D K Shivakumar will hold marathon meetings with ministers and Congress MLAs till Wednesday, according to party sources. These meetings will take place at the CM’s office residence ”Krishna” from 11 am to 7 pm with a break of two hours from 2 pm to 4 pm, Congress leaders have said.

Last week, at a meeting in Delhi, the Congress high command read the state ministers the riot act and told ministers that there would be zero tolerance for corruption. At the meeting, several leaders complained that some of the ministers were inaccessible.

The Monsoon Session of Kerala Assembly will begin with an obituary reference to Congress leader Oommen Chandy who died in Bengaluru last month. During its 10-day sitting, the House will consider various Bills, including one to substitute an Ordinance that the Left Front government issued on the safety and security of those working in the healthcare sector. Recent controversial comments by Speaker A N Shamseer, police action over the malfunction of a microphone when Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was speaking at an event, and the government’s stand on the media are likely to lead to confrontation between the Treasury and Opposition Benches.

Former President Ram Nath Kovind and Governor C V Ananda Bose will attend a session, titled “Ethos of Indian Constitution: Unity in Diversity”, hosted by the Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce at Park Hotel in Kolkata from 4.30 pm to 5.30 pm.

— With PTI inputs