The Parliament’s winter session is scheduled to begin from December 11 this year and extend till January 8 next, Union minister Vijay Goel said on Friday.
“The Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs (CCPA) has decided that next winter session will be held from 11th December, 2018 to 8th January, 2019,” said Goel, the minister of state for parliamentary affairs.
The Opposition is likely to raise the issue of Rafale fighter jet deal, among others, a case on which is being heard by the Supreme Court.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi has been relentlessly attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi over alleged corruption and cronyism in the revised deal with French fighter plane-maker, Dassault, whose CEO had on Wednesday rubbished the allegations.
A number of parties are reported to have joined hands in taking on the Centre.
Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, whose Telugu Desam Party was a former partner of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, has met several leaders of all hues from various parts of the country in a bid to mobilise the opposition forces against the Modi government.
The winter session has been scheduled after the assembly elections in five state elections — Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram — whose results are also to be announced on December 11.
Members of both the BJP and the Congress said that the possibility of moving the winter session to after the polling dates, has not been discussed.
The announcement comes two days after the former parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar passed away in Bengaluru after battling lung cancer for several months. He was 59 and is survived by his wife and two daughters.
Kumar’s portfolios, parliamentary affairs and chemicals and fertilizers, have been allotted to Narendra Singh Tomar and D V Sadananda Gowda, respectively.
First Published: Nov 14, 2018 18:07 IST
Source: HindustanTimes