Thiruvananthapuram : Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said on Thursday that the forthcoming Parliament session, commencing on July 20, should be “very constructive and productive” if all members are given the opportunity to speak.
Addressing reporters in Thiruvananthapuram, Keralam, Tharoor noted that the government has listed several proposed bills and is scheduled to brief political parties at an all-party meeting on Sunday. “The government has listed some of the eight bills. I think there’s going to be an all-party meeting on Sunday where the government will tell the parties what exactly they’re going to come up with,” he said.
He detailed three constitutional amendment bills under consideration: one concerning delimitation; another related to the “One Nation, One Election” proposal, which a parliamentary committee is studying with a report expected during the session; and a third that would enable the dismissal of MPs, CMs, and MLAs jailed for thirty days. “All of these may come up, and they’re all constitutional amendments that would require a two-thirds majority in the House,” he added.
Tharoor stated that the opposition plans to raise multiple issues during the Monsoon session, including allegations of theft involving public donations to the Ram Mandir. “I think this whole question of the theft and misappropriation of donations in the Ayodhya temple has agitated a lot of people. We are very concerned about the crisis facing the students after the failure of the NEET exam and the CBSE exam. This new complication with ethanol, E20 fuel,” he said.
“It should be a very constructive and productive session if everyone gets a chance to speak. But I think if the government tries its usual practice of not letting the opposition raise any issues, then I really worry how this parliament session will go…” he added.
Separately, the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) is expected to finalise and adopt its report at its meeting on July 17 before submitting it to Parliament for further consideration.
The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Amendment) Bill, 2024, pertains to the proposed “One Nation, One Election” reform aiming to synchronise elections for the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies. Alongside, the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024, forms part of the framework intended to support the implementation of simultaneous elections nationwide.
These Bills, introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 17, 2024, were referred to the JPC for additional scrutiny and collectively seek to establish simultaneous elections across the country.
