The Winter Session of Parliament, which kicked off on Friday, 15 December, is scheduled to end on 5 January 2018, making it the shortest Winter Session in almost two decades.
The Congress had alleged that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) delayed the session to keep the debates on the Rafale deal and allegations facing Amit Shah’s son from influencing the Gujarat elections.
Outside Parliament, a day before Rahul Gandhi would formally take the reigns of the Congress as its president, his mother and former party president Sonia Gandhi indicated to reporters that she may be retiring from politics. However, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala later clarified that Sonia would not be retiring from politics, but only as party president.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced the newly-inducted Cabinet ministers to the Rajya Sabha. Earlier in the day, he introduced them to the Lok Sabha. Dharmendra Pradhan, Piyush Goyal and Nirmala Sitharaman were elevated as Cabinet ministers in the 3 September rejig of the Council of Ministers.
The new faces are Ministers of State (independent charge) RK Singh, Hardeep Puri, KJ Alphonse, and Ministers of State Shiv Pratap Shukla, Virendra Kumar, Ananth Hegde, Gajendra Shekhawat and Satyapal Singh.
The issue of Sharad Yadav and Ali Anwar's disqualification was raised in the Rajya Sabha, with the Opposition shouting slogans of 'Taanashahi nahin chalegi.’ Chairman Venkaiah Naidu said, “All in well, not well,” and adjourned the session till noon.
Making obituary references, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan informed members that three sitting Lok Sabha MPs – Sultan Ahmed (TMC), Chand Nath (BJP) and Tasleem Uddin (RJD) – had passed away recently. The Lok Sabha was adjourned till 18 December.
This year’s Winter Session will begin on 15 December and end on 5 January 2018. As per the provisional calendar uploaded on the Lok Sabha website, there will be 14 sittings during the proposed Winter Session.
Video Editor: Sandeep Suman
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)