The Budget session of Parliament, that begins on Monday, is expected to start on a stormy note as the Opposition is all set to corner the Narendra Modi government over the latest revelations regarding the Pegasus spyware.
On Sunday, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to demand a privilege motion against the Information Technology (IT) Minister [Ashwini Vaishnaw] for “deliberately misleading the House on the Pegasus issue”.
Pegasus case: take note of NYT report, Editors Guild tells probe panel
Mr Chowdhury cited the New York Times report, that claimed that the Modi government had purchased the Pegasus spyware from the Israeli group, NSO, in July 2017, in his letter to the Speaker.
In July last year, making a statement on the Pegasus issue, the IT Minister had told Parliament that “no unauthorised surveillance can occur”.
On Monday, the Budget session will formally underway with President Ram Nath Kovind addressing a joint sitting of the the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha at the Central Hall.
However, in view of the on-going Omicron wave, members will be seated in the chambers of both the House. The Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha will return to have separate sittings in shifts with members seated across both chambers of Parliament to ensure distancing norms.
The first part of the Budget Session will be held from January 31 to February 11 after which it will go into recess to examine the budgetary allocations for different departments. The Session would resume on March 14 and conclude on April 8. In all, there will be 29 sittings, with 10 of them being planned for the first part of the Budget session.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Economic Survey 2021-22 on Monday and the Union Budget on Tuesday.
Soon after the Houses will taken up a discussion on the Motion of Thanks. According to a statement from the Lok Sabha secretariat, the government has tentatively fixed four days — February 2, 3, 4 and 7 — for the discussion on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address. The Prime Minister will reply to the debate in both the Houses, once the debate gets over. The Rajya Sabha too is expected to take up the Motion of Thanks simultaneously with the Lok Sabha.
The other major business in the first part will be a general discussion on the Budget, added the LS secretariat statement.
To ensure smooth functioning of both the Houses, separate meetings have been lined up by Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu and the Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi on Monday.
Mr Birla too will preside over the Lok Sabha’s Business Advisory Committee (BAC) in the afternoon to decide on the House’s agenda for the week.
The principal Opposition party, Congress, had declared that it will reach out to like-minded parties to raise key issues such as alleged Chinese incursions, sale of Air India, demand a relief package for the families of COVID-19 victims, the recent incidents of hate speeches among others.
However, the Pegasus snooping row, that had washed out the Monsoon session last year, could now derail other issues.
Stepping up the attack on the Prime Minister and the government, on Saturday, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi had accused Mr Modi of ‘committing treason”. Mr Gandhi’s number is said to be among a list of numbers that were said to be potential targets of hacking by using the spyware.
“PM said that it is the best time to set new goals in the India-Israel relationship. Of course, it is the best time to ask Israel if they have any advanced version of the Pegasus spyware. The last deal was for $2 billion. India can do better this time. If we get more sophisticated spyware ahead of the 2024 elections, we can give them even $4 billion,”tweeted former Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Sunday.
The Budget session comes right in the middle of election campaign to five states — Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa, and Manipur — that go to polls on February 10 and will continue until March 7.
