Budget Session to begin on January 31: Will Opposition pass test on unity?

Parliament’s Budget Session is beginning on Monday in the shadow of Assembly elections in five states, dubbed as semi-finals to the 2024 polls, with the ruling BJP and the Opposition sharpening their tools to corner each other.

The new revelations on Pegasus will be one of the main weapons the Opposition will use along with price rise, India-China border tension, Covid-19 third wave, farmers distress, Chinese border issues, relief package for Covid victims and sale of Air India.

The session held in two legs – January 31 to February 11 and March 14 to April 8 – in the midst of the third wave of Covid-19 will start with the customary address of President Ram Nath Kovind to a joint sitting of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs on the first day followed by the much-anticipated Budget on February 1.

While in 2012, the UPA government had deferred the presentation of the Budget to March 16 owing to Assembly elections but in 2017 and this time, the Modi government decided to present the Budget during the election season.

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For both the ruling and Opposition sides, the session is crucial as the deliberations during the first leg would have an impact on the elections in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur. Both sides are likely to use the Parliament floor to make their political points.

Both the Houses are likely to see most of the MPs from poll-bound states remaining absent in the first leg of the Budget Session.

The session will also test the resolve of non-BJP parties on Opposition unity or electoral compulsions will keep them divided in Parliament, as a number of friends have turned foes in poll-bound states. During the last Winter Session, Trinamool Congress did not attend meetings called by Congress on floor coordination.

NCP and Shiv Sena have come together against Congress in Goa where Trinamool Congress and AAP are also fighting separately. In Punjab, it is Congress versus AAP. Samajwadi Party is the main challenger against BJP in Uttar Pradesh while Congress is fighting alone.

The government has called an all-party meeting through digital mode on Monday at 3 pm, which would set the tone for the Session, at least for the first leg. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not attended such a meeting before the Winter Session.

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The Opposition has said that it will raise the Pegasus issue prominently among other issues.

The report in The New York Times claiming that the Modi government bought Pegasus – which were alleged to be used against Opposition leaders, Constitutional post holders, journalists and activists among others – have given new ammunition to the anti-BJP parties.

The Opposition will target the government alleging that the latter misled and lied in Parliament and Supreme Court on questions on whether it bought the Israeli spyware. It would also question the government on the assertions in the NYT report about India changing its stand on Palestine following the buying of Pegasus.

Parties like Congress, Trinamool Congress, CPI(M), CPI, RJD, DMK, NCP and Shiv Sena have already targeted the government over the issue.

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