The debate and voting on the no-confidence motion moved by the Opposition against Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla will be taken up on March 9, The New Indian Express quoted Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju as saying on Sunday.
The minister said that it is a rule to take up such a motion on the first day after the House reconvenes.
The second part of the Budget Session of Parliament is scheduled from March 9 to April 2. The session began on January 28 and went into recess on Thursday.
Rijiju said that the government intends to proceed with its legislative agenda once the motion against the speaker has been disposed of.
He described the upcoming sittings of the House as “interesting”, stating that several important legislations would be introduced for debate and passage.
“We will bring some important bills, including one critical bill,” the newspaper quoted him as saying. “We will not disclose now as to what the bill is, but we will bring up one very important business in the second part. We will pass all these bills.”
He was also quoted as saying that if Opposition parties continued protests in way similar to that seen during the first part of the session, “we will go for the guillotine”.
“It will be a loss for them,” he added.
The first part of the session saw repeated disruptions.
Since February 2, the Opposition has been protesting against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi not being allowed to quote an excerpt from an unpublished memoir of former Indian Army chief MM Naravane about the political decision-making during the 2020 border tensions between India and China.
The excerpts from the book that Gandhi had been attempting to quote from had been reported in December 2023 and were quoted by The Caravan magazine on February 1.
BJP MPs had objected to the Congress leader speaking on the matter, arguing that he cannot quote from a book that had not yet been released.
On February 5, the Lok Sabha passed the Motion of Thanks on the president’s address without Prime Minister Narendra Modi giving his customary reply, as Opposition MPs continued their protest. This was the first time since 2004 that the prime minister has not replied to the motion in the Lok Sabha.
On February 10, the Opposition submitted a notice indicating its intention to move a no-confidence motion against Birla, citing the “blatantly partisan manner” of conducting proceedings in the House.
“On several occasions, leaders of Opposition parties have just not been allowed to speak, which is their democratic right in Parliament,” the notice said.
According to Article 94 of the Constitution, a Lok Sabha speaker can be removed if the House passes a no-confidence resolution. However, a 14-day notice needs to be given indicating the intention to move the resolution.
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