2015 Parliament Monsoon Session - Session a washout,parliament adjourned sine die Thursday Aug 13,2015

 

 

The washout was not entirely unanticipated because the Congress Party had - all summer - demanded the resignations of three senior BJP leaders as a prerequisite to allowing parliament function.

The BJP offered to debate the Lalit Modi scandal and the Vyapam scam over the past three weeks, the Congress Party remained unflinching in its demands for the resignations of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasandhura Raje and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, and the Monsoon Session deteriorated into a routine of early adjournments and shouting matches in both houses of parliament

On Wednesday Aug 12,2015, after the Congress Party agreed to debate the Lalit Modi scandal, Lok Sabha turned into a complete battlefield

The monsoon session of Parliament headed for an acrimonious close when Swaraj, whose resignation was sought by the Congress as a pre-condition for functioning of the House, tore into Sonia and Rahul Gandhi. She said they should first explain why the late Rajiv Gandhi helped Bofors scandal accused Ottavio Quattrocchi and Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson flee the country

 

 

Congress Party Vice President Rahul Gandhi hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who delivered a scathing attack on his family while mounting her defence over the Lalit Modi controversy.

 

Both houses of Parliament this session were extremely unproductive. 

While the lower house functioned less than half the time — its productivity was at 46%— the Rajya Sabha was at a dismal 9%. 

Only about a percentage of the Question Hour was used in the 17-day session at Rajya Sabha, while Lok Sabha used 52 % of its scheduled time 

While 8 of the 9 bills planned for introduction to the Parliament were added, only one bill, the Delhi High Court (Amendment) Bill, 2014, was passed out of the 12 in queue

This is the lowest since the winter session of Parliament in 2010

After Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned sine die around noon on Thursday Aug 13,2015, the Congress Party and the BJP held competing demonstrations in the national capital. Senior BJP leaders walked in a "Save Democracy" march from Vijay Chowk to Rashtrapati Bhawan to send out a message that the Congress Party is responsible for holding back critical reforms for economic growth.

"This was a disruption without a cause," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told the media on Thursday afternoon. “The real agenda of the Congress Party was to ensure that there is no economic progress."

"It has never happened before that the supreme leader of a mainstream party enters the well of the House," he said. "They did not have the numbers so they used lung power."

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and other Congress members stage a protest at the Parliament house on Thursday

Under Article 85(2) of the Constitution, the President is vested with the power to prorogue (end a session) both Houses of Parliament. If Houses are not prorogued and are only left at being adjourned sine die by Chair in Parliament, the same session continues and can be reconvened at any time.

The BJP Government is reportedly planning to hold a special session for the passage of the GST Bill, which needs a two-thirds majority in the Rajya Sabha.