Opposition parties like Trinamool Congress and JD-U are also seeking to
corner the government on the issue of black money as they gave notice
for suspension of Question Hour in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday to discuss
this issue.
The opposition is likely to create hurdles in the
passage of key legislations in the Upper House, including the labour
reform bill, that has been listed for consideration and passage on
Tuesday.
The Winter session started today but no work was
transacted as both Houses were adjourned after paying tributes to
sitting members who have passed away recently.
Keeping
government on tenterhooks, Congress said there is "no blank cheque" on
support to Insurance Bill and Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill as
"devil lies in the details".
Party spokesperson Abhishek
Singhvi said GST is "entirely a Congress baby" and in principle it has
"no reason to jettison" it. However, it is "subject to nitty gritty" as
his party is not aware whether the bill is brought in the same form as
was done by the UPA, he added.
About the Insurance Bill that
provides for raising FDI cap to 49 per cent from 26 per cent, Singhvi
remained non-committal, saying "it is dangerous to speak in abstract".
To
a specific question on whether the Congress will accept the
recommendations of the Select Committee of Rajya Sabha which is
examining the Insurance Bill, he said, "Parliamentary panel reports are
not binding on Parliament, either the ruling party or the Opposition.
Parliament is supreme."
JD(U) and Trinamool are also opposing and trying to forge unity on the issue.
JD-U
leader K C Tyagi said his party is against the Insurance Bill and has
certain reservations on some provisions of the labour reform bills.
He
said efforts are on to put up a united opposition in the Upper House on
certain key issues and talks are on between various parties including
the Left in this regard.
Trinamool Congress is also strongly opposed to the Insurance Bill.
BSP
chief Mayawati, on the other hand, hinted that her party may not
"unnecessarily" oppose the bill to hike FDI cap in insurance sector in
Rajya Sabha.
The Insurance Bill is currently with the
Select Committee of Parliament. Two BJP members -- J P Nadda and Mukhtar
Abbas Naqvi -- are out of the Committee since they have become
ministers and their vacancies are to be filled on Tuesday.
The
motion to nominate replacements to them in the committee is expected to
face rough weather in the wake of protests by Trinamool Congress, JD-U
and others opposing the hike in FDI in insurance sector.
In a
meeting of the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) of Rajya Sabha,
government today expressed its keenness to get the labour reform bills
passed in the Upper House during the week.
JD-U member K C
Tyagi and Trinamool MP Derek O'Brien gave the notice to Rajya Sabha
Chairman Hamid Ansari for suspension of Question Hour on Tuesday to
discuss black money issue. Some others are likely to follow.
"Black
money was one of the key poll planks in the Lok Sabha elections on
which BJP won, but the government has done nothing on this count in the
last few months since it came to power. We want a threadbare discussion
on this. I have given a notice on behalf of JD-U for a discussion on the
issue after suspension of Question Hour on Tuesday," Tyagi said.
The
government has listed the Labour Laws (Exemption from Furnishing
Returns and Maintaining Registers by certain Establishments) Amendment
Bill, 2011, and the Apprentices (Amendment) Bill, 2014 for consideration
and passage in the Upper House.
