Parliament session extended till Aug 7

Just a day before the session to end, Government on Thursday informed Lok Sabha that Parliament sittings will be extended till August 7 with an intention to pass more bills.

With this, the Parliament will be sitting for 38 days, in probably one of the highest number of sittings in the first session of any Lok Sabha.

The decision to extend the session was made by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi in Lok Sabha, soon after the House passed the Triple Talaq bill was passed. Earlier in the day, the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs met here to take the decision.

The government wants the extension because over a dozen bills are pending in the either of the House. On Thursday, three new bills were introduced.

There was speculation that the session will be extended till August 9 after Home Minister and BJP president Amit Shah asked party MPs to be ready for an extension by around ten days.

However, the "last-minute decision" to extend the session has not gone down well with Opposition with Trinamool Congress MP Derek O'Brien saying, "it is not a college campus".

"This is not a college campus where we are organising an intra-college festival. This is the Parliament of India," the TMC MP told reporters, as he accused the government of "bulldozing" Parliament.

The Opposition has been demanding that bills should be sent for Parliamentary scrutiny while attacking the government for rushing through Bills.

Opposition leaders had earlier conveyed their "strong disapproval" to the government on the move to extend the session.