NEW DELHI-
India’s parliament opened its last sitting before a general election on Wednesday only to suspend after a few hours of disorderly debate over the formation of a new state, with the pressing issue of corruption pushed into the background.
The session, which will go through to February 21, is seen as a final chance for the ruling Congress Party to convince voters it is taking action on graft and to showcase the resolve of leader Rahul Gandhi.
On the eve of parliament’s reopening, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appealed to all parties to help push through legislation.
But as the session quickly descended into a shouting match, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram acknowledged that might be a forlorn hope.
“I doubt whether it will pass any law. We’ve to go through the ritual of attending parliament every day and coming back empty handed,” Chidambaram said.
India is to hold a parliamentary election by May and the date is expected to be announced round about the close of the session.
The bills due to come up for debate in the session cover issues that Gandhi, the fourth generation member of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty that leads Congress, has championed, including women’s empowerment and graft.
After 10 years in power, the popularity of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), led by Congress, has drooped in large part over a series of graft scandals as well as its inability to halt a slide in the economy.
Opinion polls put the BJP, a conservative Hindu nationalist party spearheaded by Narendra Modi, ahead of Congress.
The newly formed Aam Aadmi, or Common Man, Party (AAP), which campaigns against corruption and took power in the capital Delhi in local elections in December, could draw voters away from either one while a number of smaller parties are discussing the formation of a “Third Front”.
Chandan Mitra, a BJP upper house member, said parliament should not be rushed into passing bills without due scrutiny.
“There is no obligation on the part of the opposition to allow Mr Rahul Gandhi to get his agenda pushed though,” Mitra told a foreign news agency.
“The government is trying to end this term on a high, but we don’t want to give them an easy ride.”
Congress will try to push through 39 bills, including six anti-corruption bills, to address public anger over graft. They address issues such as protection for whistleblowers and corruption in the judiciary. It will also try to pass an interim budget expected to contain pre-election sops for voters.
But wrangling over the creation of a new southern state derailed other matters when the session began, despite speaker Meira Kumar’s appeals for calm. The new state, Telangana, would be carved out of Andhra Pradesh and should generate vote-winning support for Congress.
