Government succeeds in introducing Insurance Bill in Lok Sabha

NEW DELHI: The government braved an hour-long procedural wrangling to introduce the Insurance Bill — that seeks to increase FDI cap in the sector to 49% — aimed at giving a legislative framework to the ordinance.

The government stood its ground against Opposition members, questioning the propriety of introducing the Bill which they insisted was a pending property of the Rajya Sabha. The intriguingly poor attendance of Congress MPs in the House at the time of the introduction of the Bill tactically helped the government to sail through.

When MoS for Finance Jayant Sinha stood up to pilot the bill, Trinamool and Left MPs opposed its introduction saying the House lacked legislative competence since an identical bill was still pending before the Rajya Sabha that rejected the government bid to withdraw it last week.

Though a handful of Congress MPs, including its floor leaders, was present in the House, majority of its MPs including seniors and Sonia Gandhi were missing. It was clear the main Opposition was in no mood to fight on the issue of procedure.

Only last week did a handful of Congress MPs force adjournment of the House, alleging Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu took a jibe at Rahul Gandhi’s sabbatical. However, the party had no such zeal on a matter that involved constitutional propriety.