Amid Opposition fears, battle over bills to begin today

The central government is looking to table 15 bills in the Lok Sabha and 18 bills in the Rajya Sabha from Monday during the extended session of Parliament even as Opposition parties accused the government of rushing through legislation without any parliamentary scrutiny.

But the saffron party defended the move, with BJP general secretary Bhupender Yadav expressing surprise at the Opposition’s objection to Parliament utilising more of its time to enact laws.

All eyes will be on the Triple Talaq Bill, which was passed by the Lok Sabha for a third time in one year, as NDA ally JD(U) has made it clear that it will oppose the proposed legislation in the Rajya Sabha. Parties like the TRS and the BJD had also earlier expressed concern over the bill, putting the BJP-led NDA on a back foot in the numbers game in the Upper House.

Though the government had outsmarted the Opposition on the RTI (Amendment) Bill by weaning away the BJD and the TRS, which had agreed to support the demand for sending the bill to a Select Committee, the Triple Talaq Bill will be a tricky issue for the ruling coalition.

For the first two days, the government has not listed the Triple Talaq Bill or other contentious Bills like the UAPA (Amendment) Bill or the DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill.

Opposition has 111 votes in the Rajya Sabha while the NDA at present has 115. There are 15 MPs from the BJD, TRS and YSR Congress who are non-aligned.

For the first two days, the government has not listed the Triple Talaq Bill or other contentious Bills like the UAPA (Amendment) Bill or the DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill.

On Monday, the government has listed Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Bill - on which MPs Binoy Vishwam (CPI), Elamarom Kareem (CPIM), T Subbarami Reddy (Congress) and K K Ragesh (CPIM) have submitted a statutory resolution seeking its disapproval - and Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill.

On Tuesday, the government has listed Companies (Amendment) Bill on which the same set of MPs have submitted a similar statutory resolution.

The Lok Sabha will take up National Medical Commission Bill and Repealing and Amending Bill on Monday while Consumer Protection Bill is listed for passing on Tuesday. Dam Safety Bill, a contentious Bill, will be introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.