The session gets underway on January 31, with the customary address of the President to Members of both the Houses of Parliament sitting together. The speech takes stock of the achievements of the government and the roadmap ahead.
Between January 31 and April 4, the target date for adjournment, parliamentarians across the political spectrum also re-organise themselves in smaller groups to dissect various aspects of the budgetary provisions. A three-week recess for the Houses between February 13 and March 10, is a unique opportunity, especially for all MPs to focus on the task ahead. Otherwise, it is the members of the Lok Sabha who have the right to grant access to the government to draw money from the treasury and spend it in the manner the Budget is approved.
Every government accords the top-most priority to the financial business and secures the passage of the Budget since any mishap would render its continuation untenable. That is one reason the Budget session assumes great importance and members on the government side usually walk, if required, an extra mile to accommodate requests from various sides in the House.
This Budget will be the second such presentation by PM Narendra Modi’s government after it won in the 2024 general elections. However, back then the nature of the coalition translated into the allocation of funds to key allies, especially the Janata Dal (United) and the Telugu Desam Party, which head the coalition governments in Bihar and Andhra Pradesh respectively. A greater share of the pie was interpreted as dictates of the composition of the National Democratic Alliance and the crucial support of the two constituents provided to the BJP in the Lok Sabha.
Now, six months later the political situation for the BJP-led NDA changed with the lead party in a far greater position of strength to assert. Conversely, the combined Opposition which came back with a new spring under its feet is fraying at the margins as was evident in the previous winter session.
Fraying unity of the opposition
Voice questioning Congress leadership of the Indian National Inclusive Development Alliance (I N D I A) was distinct as constituents preferred to distance themselves from issues the ‘grand old party’ chose to focus on both in and outside Parliament.
The back-to-back setback in the elections to the assemblies of Haryana and Maharashtra triggered the demands for a far more efficacious leadership and one that accommodated the interests of other parties in the alliance. The glue of anti-BJP, which brought these parties together, was clearly losing its adhesive strength.
Starting this week, the stage will also be set for the Budget session’s agenda other than the financial bills. Indications of what to expect came as the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) amid sharp division adopted its report on the contentious Waqf Amendment Bill.
The opposition members charged that the report was put to vote in the Committee without adequate time being granted to go through the draft. Opposition members are said to have submitted dissent notes and promised to oppose the Bill when it comes to legislation.
The second report which is in the works is by the other JPC examining two Bills about amending the schedule on the way the country would vote through the One Nation One Election plan. Further movement on this would depend on two aspects. First, when the report is ready, the second and most significant would be the calculation of governing coalition parliamentary managers. While the NDA has an adequate majority in the Lok Sabha, the managers will have to assess whether the alliance possesses votes in the Rajya Sabha, to carry a Constitution amendment.
After the resignation of a sitting member from the YSR Congress Party, the current strength of the 245-member House is 236. The BJP and its partners touch the halfway mark of 118. The government will require a majority of votes by two-thirds of members present and voting on a Bill to amend a constitutional provision.
After the first two sessions of the new Lok Sabha, the euphoria of the combined opposition is on the wane. With a strength that is 60 short of the governing coalition, the Opposition would be required to demonstrate greater cohesion to prevent the BJP-led government from pushing through legislation without the charge of adequate oversight. In these sessions, the collective could check the pace through JPCs.
The Opposition would need greater dexterity in negotiating parliamentary work by setting aside competing interests in pursuit of promises it made to the voters in the general election and emerge as a strident Vox Populi.
—The author, K V Prasad, is an author and political analyst. The views expressed are personal.
Read his previous articles here
