The United Progressive Alliance government is expected to face testing times in its first session of Parliament beginning June 2, with the National Democratic Alliance, in the Opposition for the first time, determined to raise the induction of 'tainted' ministers into the Union council virtually right from the word go.
While the first two days of the first session of the 14th Lok Sabha would be devoted to oath-taking by the newly elected members, trouble is expected to erupt on June 4 when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh introduces his Council of Ministers to the House.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, main constituent of the NDA, has threatened to raise the induction of persons who have been chargesheeted or have criminal charges against them into the Union council, both inside Parliament and outside.
An inkling of the Opposition's aggression was had on Monday when the Janata Dal-United, another constituent of the NDA, staged a dharna in New Delhi to demand that the government drop the 'tainted' ministers to keep its promise of providing a corruption-free government.
The government has moved fast to avert a possible confrontation with the Opposition over the Speaker's election, with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi offering the deputy speakership to the Opposition to ensure the unanimous election of Marxist veteran Somnath Chatterjee as Speaker.
The move comes in the wake of NDA convenor George Fernandes's remark that the Opposition planned to field P A
Sangma, Speaker of the 11th Lok Sabha, as their candidate against Chatterjee.
The Rajya Sabha will commence its sitting from June 4 and both Houses are scheduled to last till June 10.
Though the prime minister has taken the stand that everyone is innocent till convicted, the Opposition is unimpressed by the argument.
Its reasoning is that the Congress had raised a hue and cry in the previous Lok Sabha over the continuance of some ministers even before they were chargesheeted, and it should behave differently now that it is in power.
The BJP also plans to corner the UPA over the hassles it faced in formulating a Common Minimum Programme, with various alliance partners openly bargaining for ministerial berths and portfolios and speaking in different voices.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad is apparently unfazed by the Opposition's plans and brushes aside the prospect of any major trouble from the BJP and its allies. "If there is no sound and fury where is Parliament, where is democracy? There has to be some noise. There is a role for the Opposition," he said.
The session will see former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee being made chairman of the BJP parliamentary party and subsequently that of the NDA, and former deputy prime minister L K Advani being made the Leader of
Opposition.
The highlight of the brief session will be President A P J Abdul Kalam's address to a joint session of both the Houses on June 7. A discussion on the motion of thanks to the President for his address will be held for two days in the Rajya Sabha and for three days in the Lok Sabha.
