Ruckus over U’khand Bills resonates in Rajya Sabha

The Narendra Modi government was hopeful on Wednesday that the Finance Bill 2016-17 and the Uttarakhand Appropriation Bill would be passed in the Rajya Sabha, despite the Congress blocking the two legislations to protest against the imposition of President’s rule in the hill state. 

The Congress has been blocking the Appropriation Bill as it believes that its passage would give parliamentary backing to the President’s rule in the hill state.  “They assured to pass the finance Bill yesterday. Now, they have assured to pass it tomorrow,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said after Congress members did not let the Upper House to function. 

The NDA lacks strength in the Rajya Sabha. The Finance Bill and the Uttarakhand Appropriation Bill have been passed by the Lok Sabha, where the NDA enjoys a brute majority. As both the Bills are money Bills, sources said even if they are not passed in the Upper House, they can be returned to the Lok Sabha and deemed as passed by both the Houses.

Naidu said the central ordinance to provide funds to Uttarakhand under President’s rule would remain alive till the legislation is passed in Parliament and administrative decisions taken under it would also remain out of question. 

Meanwhile, the Congress has been opposing the President’s rule, saying that it was imposed just a day before the Harish Rawat government was set to prove its majority in the Assembly on March 28, 2016. The Centre’s invoking of Article 356 of the Constitution to dismiss the Rawat government based on its assessment that the controversial passage of the state Budget led to a constitutional crisis, has also angered the Congress, which sees it as the BJP’s desperation to dislodge an opposition government in the state.

The Upper House was repeatedly disrupted over Uttarakhand and Agusta issues and was adjourned in past few days. Deputy chairman PJ Kurien repeatedly urged the Opposition members to let the House take up the two financial Bills, but the Congress did not relent. 

MoS for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi urged the chair to pass the two legislations with a voice vote if the Congress members continued with their protests.

Leader of the Opposition in the Upper House Ghulam Nabi Azad asked the Centre to apologise over the Uttarakhand issue. The Congress is also miffed over Prime Minister Narendra Modi naming party chief Sonia Gandhi in the AgustaWestland scam while campaigning in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. It has also moved a privilege motion against the prime minister but it was not allowed.