The Parliament is expected to witness a stormy return on Tuesday with the Congress party moving an adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha over the government formation in Manipur and Goa with both parties claiming majorities in the states.
Tuesday’s Parliament session is the first since the election results were announced on Saturday that saw the BJP win both Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand by huge majorities, the Congress win Punjab and hung verdicts in both Manipur and Goa.
The budget session resumed on March 9, when the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2016 which will raise the maternity leave for working women in public and private sector from 12 weeks to 26 weeks for the first two children, was passed.
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2.30 pm: Lok Sabha adjourned till 3.30 pm.
12.00 pm: Home minister Rajnath Singh said left-wing extremists were restless because of attacks carried out against them by security forces, and called the Sukma attack on the CRPF a result of that frustration.
Making a statement in the Lok Sabha, Rajnath Singh condoled the death of 12 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel and said that the nation will always remember their sacrifice.
He said 135 alleged extremists were killed, 700 were arrested and 1,198 surrendered the last year, and there was a 15% drop in left wing extremist incidents in Chhattisgarh in 2016.
11.30 am: Congress and its UPA allies staged a walkout of the Lok Sabha to protest the BJP’s efforts to form government in Goa and Manipur.
Members of Congress, NCP and RJD raised the issue during Question Hour. Congress leader in the House Mallikarjun Kharge claimed that democracy is being murdered. When the Speaker said she would not allow the Question Hour to be disrupted and members should raise such matters in the Zero Hour, Kharge said if they are not allowed to raise the issue in the House, where else would they go.
Finance minister Arun Jaitley said since the Congress leader has used “strong words”, they should either be expunged or the government be allowed to respond.
10.45 am: A BJP worker was hacked to death in the outskirts of Bengaluru on Tuesday morning. Police said unknown assailants attacked him with sickles near Bommasandra area. Union minister Ananth Kumar responds to the incident outside Parliament: “Condemn it. Siddaramaiah government should take immediate action on it.”
9.35 am: Congress submits an adjournment motion notice in the Lok Sabha over the issue of government formation in Goa and Manipur.
Sources said that the leader of Congress in the lower house, Mallikarjun Kharge, along with some other party MPs, will move the motion while seeking to raise the issue and demand a discussion on it.
9.00 am: BJP issues whip to its Lok Sabha members; asking them to be present in the House today.
