NEW DELHI: A group of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ministers on Tuesday will be attending a
meeting
at
defence minister Rajnath Singh
‘s house ahead of the first
Parliament session
, which is scheduled to begin on June 24, reported news agency ANI citing sources.
In the meeting, the leaders are to hold a discussion to ensure better
floor coordination
among the NDA patterns during the session, which will also witness the election for the Speaker post.
The BJP, in the meet, is likely to take up a discussion on the Speaker’s name and convince the allies — primarily Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) and
Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP
, which could also be a last litmus test for the PM Modi’s third tenure.
The Speaker is generally elected in the first meeting of members of the Lok Sabha. Before the Speaker can be picked, an MP, usually the longest serving, is selected as the pro-tem (for a limited period of time) speaker.
The pro-tem speaker presides over the first few sittings of the new house and also presides over the administration of oaths of new MPs and conducts the vote for the Speaker and Deputy Speaker. NDA allies – TDP with 16 seats and JD(U) with 12 seats, hold the key to BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) 3.0.
The first session would also provide the first peep into the tense dynamics that is likely to define government’s equations with the opposition which has returned with stronger numbers and has signalled its intent by questioning the legitimacy of the new Modi government.
The session, in which newly-elected members of Lok Sabha will be sworn in, will see President Droupadi Murmu addressing a joint sitting of the two Houses on June 27.
While government, as is always the case, will utilise the President’s address to showcase its agenda for the next five years, the number-boosted opposition has several issues to raise, including the recent NEET controversy. Its response to the President’s address will provide the first indication of its approach in Parliament.
PM Modi will respond to the debate on the motion of thanks to the President’s address in both Houses of Parliament.
