Parliament week: Opposition all set to question Indo-US trade deal, Union Budget

New Delhi: Parliament is headed to a tumultuous week with the Opposition all set to raise the decibel levels on Indo-US trade deal, putting question marks on the smooth conduct of general discussion on the Union Budget from Monday.

The Opposition would be adding the deal as well as the US order on Russian oil as their issues besides that of allowing Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi to raise the remarks of former Army Chief Gen M M Naravane on the handling of China issue.

Opposition leaders would meet at Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge's office on Monday 10 am to discuss the next step for the Budget session.

The first phase of Budget Session is scheduled to end this Friday and Parliament will reconvene on March 9 after Department-Related Standing Committees examine the Demands for Grants for various ministries. The Session is scheduled to end on April 2.

The discussion on Budget was to start in Lok Sabha last Thursday but Opposition protests did not allow that. When asked whether they would allow normal functioning this week, a senior Opposition leader said, “we will know tomorrow (Monday)” without elaborating.

Last week saw the protest by the Opposition led by Congress leading to an unprecedented situation where Prime Minister Narendra Modi could not reply to the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address over not allowing Rahul to talk about China.

Lok Sabha functioned for just 7:41 hours during the Budget Session, while around 25 hours were lost to disruption. While 18 hours were earmarked for the debate on Motion of Thanks, the House took up the issue only for 2:48 hours as the House remained disrupted over Rahul’s speech.

However, Rajya Sabha sat for around 31 hours since January 28, the first day of Budget Session, and out of this, 17:53 hours were spent on discussing the Motion of Thanks. Though he did not speak in Lok Sabha, Modi replied to the debate in Rajya Sabha.

Opposition leaders indicated that they will be vociferously raising the trade deal, which they claimed were against the interest of farmers. They also will be questioning US President Donald Trump’s executive order on buying Russian oil, saying it is an attack on India’s sovereignty.

The Opposition is also unlikely to step back as eight of its Lok Sabha MPs are suspended for the entire session following their protest against Rahul not being allowed to speak.

The relationship between both sides soured with the ruling BJP claiming that the Opposition had conspired to attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi inside the House and that was why he could not make his speech. Speaker Om Birla said he had information about an “unforeseen” protest, which prompted him to ask Modi not to come to the House.