The government and opposition parties reached an agreement on Monday, 2 December, to break the week-long impasse in Parliament and announced the dates for a discussion on the Constitution, to mark its 75th year of adoption, in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.
The Lower House will take up the discussion on the Constitution on 13 and 14 December and the Upper House on 16 and 17 December, parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju said, following a meeting Speaker Om Birla held with floor leaders of different parties.
Opposition parties had demanded discussions in both Houses of Parliament to mark the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution by the Constituent Assembly.However, there is little possibility of any specific discussion on the Adani issue, sources added, noting that opposition members may touch on it during other debates.
Rijiju told reporters that all parties have agreed to allow Parliament to function from Tuesday, 3 December, and both Houses will take up their listed agenda items. He expressed confidence that Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha will function smoothly from Tuesday.
Following back-channel talks, the breakthrough was achieved at the meeting chaired by Birla and attended by Gaurav Gogoi of the Congress, DMK’s T.R. Baalu and TMC’s Kalyan Banerjee among others, besides Rijiju and his deputy in the ministry, Arjun Ram Meghwal.
The Congress has been persistent in raising the issue of the indictment of US prosecutors of Adani Group chairperson Gautam Adani and other company officials on bribery and fraud charges.
This coupled with vociferous opposition protests over matters such as the Sambhal violence and Manipur unrest have resulted in constant adjournments of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha since the Winter Session began on November 25.
However, some other opposition parties, especially the TMC, have not attached the same priority to the Adani row and want Parliament to discuss a host of different issues, including unemployment, price rise and the Centre’s alleged discrimination against opposition-ruled states in fund allocation.
The TMC has skipped opposition meetings to formulate the INDIA bloc’s joint strategy during the Session. A TMC source said his party cannot be there just to stamp its approval on the Congress’ agenda.