The second week of the first session of the 18th Lok Sabha is expected to feature intense debates and exchanges between the BJP-led NDA government and the opposition on various issues, including the NEET paper leak, the Agnipath scheme, and inflation. Both houses will reconvene on Monday, July 1.
The BJP will initiate the debate on the Motion of Thanks on the President's address, led by BJP Hamirpur MP Anurag Thakur. This will be followed by first-time MP Bansuri Swaraj, the daughter of the late BJP stalwart Sushma Swaraj.
The Lok Sabha has allocated 16 hours for the debate, which will conclude with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's reply on Tuesday. In the Rajya Sabha, 21 hours have been set aside for the debate, with the Prime Minister likely to respond on Wednesday.
Opposition To Protest Over 'Misuse' Of CBI, ED
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Sanjay Singh on Sunday said that the parties of the I.N.D.I.A bloc had decided to stage a protest on Monday in the Parliament premises against the misuse of central agencies like CBI and ED.
"The parties of the I.N.D.I.A bloc had unanimously decided that we would protest against the misuse of ED and CBI in the Parliament premises tomorrow at 10.30 AM," Singh said.
The first week of the Parliament session saw opposition parties protesting over the NEET-UG exam leak issue. Both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha experienced several adjournments on Friday as Congress and other opposition parties demanded a debate on the NEET-UG controversy.
Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi attempted to raise the issue, but the speaker dismissed the request, stating that there was no provision for discussion on other matters when the House had to address the motion of thanks on the President's address.
Congress MP Deepender Hooda claimed that the commotion began after Gandhi's mic was switched off. "The future of the youth has been spoiled due to continuous paper leaks in the country. The maximum number of paper leak cases have been seen in Haryana. The paper was leaked in the NEET exam and the Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan is running away from responsibility. We had brought up a discussion on this and when it was raised in the House, the mic was switched off. If the mic of the Leader of the Opposition is switched off, then there will be anger among other Opposition MPs and the same happened in the House... We demand that this issue be discussed," he said.
In the Rajya Sabha, the debate saw protests, with LoP Mallikarjun Kharge entering the Well of the House to join fellow members. Vice President and Chairman Jagdeep Dhankar expressed disappointment over Kharge's actions. The opposition members later staged a walkout.
Khafre stated that they were trying to draw the government's attention the the concerns of the students who appeared for the exam, with the CBI now investigating the allegations of paper leak matter.