Winter session may be cut short, Left to oppose move

NEW DELHI: A consensus appears to be building between the UPA government and the main opposition bloc, the NDA, to cut the Winter Session short by three days.

BJP sources said several members cutting across party lines had expressed their desire that the session should end on December 18, instead of December 21, which was a Monday. The members, they felt, would have to return to the Capital to attend Parliament just for a day. In any case, attendance in Parliament was generally thinner on Monday mornings and Friday afternoons, as most members went back to their respective constituencies over the weekend.

Besides, most discussions and legislative business would have been taken up in the next two weeks. Price rise has already been debated in Lok Sabha and the Liberhan Commission report is expected to be taken up this week. As far as the legislative business was concerned, Parliament had to approve the demands for grants for railways, general budget and Jharkhand, besides the sugarcane ordinance.

However, the Left parties are unlikely to approve any move to cut short the session. In fact, the Left has been in the forefront of a campaign to demand a legislation ensuring at least 100 sittings of Parliament in a year.