Centre explores holding special Parliament session next month

The parliamentary affairs ministry has not confirmed dates for the proposed session, while opposition parties say they were not informed about the plans so far.

New Delhi : The Union government has expressed interest in convening a special session of Parliament next month to push through bills implementing delimitation and women’s reservation and has also started reaching out to some members of the National Democratic Alliance, people aware of developments said on Wednesday.

A senior leader of an NDA member said the government conveyed to their party that it was keen to pass the bills to clear the decks for women’s reservation, an issue that ranks high on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s agenda. “Although no dates have been conveyed to us, we were given to understand that the government is keen to convene the session next month. The monsoon session has not yet been prorogued,” said the leader.

The BJP, TDP, JDU and the Shiv Sena did not respond to request for comment.

There was no official confirmation from the parliamentary affairs ministry on the dates for a possible special session and opposition parties said they were not informed. “This is kite flying. Nobody has approached the Congress party or said anything about such a session. I refuse to speculate about these things,” said Congress’s chief whip in the Rajya Sabha, Jairam Ramesh.