Parliament Monsoon Session: Govt To Table Delhi Services Bill In RS Today; Rahul Gandhi's Likely Comeback

The Parliament is set to witness high-octane drama on Monday as Union Home Minister Amit Shah is slated to present the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023, for consideration and passage in the Rajya Sabha.

Meanwhile, in the Lok Sabha, the Opposition is expected to address the matter of reinstating Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's parliamentary membership. The Congress leaders have been questioning Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla's decision not to reinstate Rahul Gandhi's status as a parliamentarian after the Supreme Court stayed his conviction in the Modi surname case last week.

All attention will be on the Lok Sabha secretariat as it initiates the process to reinstate Rahul Gandhi, following the Supreme Court's order on Friday, which stayed his conviction in a criminal defamation case. Lok Sabha officials stated that they will review the authenticated copy of the Supreme Court order and take necessary action promptly. Usually, the process takes less than 30 minutes as the secretariat has the proforma for such notifications readily available.

However, the reinstatement process may become prolonged if the secretariat decides to seek the law ministry's opinion, as it occurred in the case of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MP Md Faizal earlier in the year. He had to wait for nearly two months before returning to the Lok Sabha despite getting a stay in his conviction from the Kerala High Court in January. Nevertheless, the chances of seeking the law ministry's opinion in Rahul Gandhi's case are remote, given that it is an order from the Supreme Court, according to a senior Lok Sabha official.

The INDIA alliance parties are scheduled to convene a meeting on Monday at 10 am, followed by a meeting of Congress MPs at 10.30 am. In these meetings, the Opposition leaders will discuss their future plans if Rahul Gandhi's disqualification is not revoked promptly. Congress' Lok Sabha lawmaker Manickam Tagore expressed hope that the Lok Sabha Speaker would make the right decision without delay.

Trinamool's Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra raised her voice on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday, urging the Lok Sabha secretariat to comply immediately with the Supreme Court's order to reinstate Rahul Gandhi, stating that any delay would be unjust and in defiance of India's highest court.

During the meetings, the Opposition will also fine-tune their strategy regarding the Delhi services bill in the Rajya Sabha. They have decided to have Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi as their first speaker in the Delhi debate. Singhvi's expertise in representing the Delhi government in the Supreme Court for the Delhi government vs. LG case, which was later overturned through the Delhi ordinance, makes him well-suited to present the legal and political arguments, as per a Congress leader.

Moreover, the Opposition's strategy is to use the debate on the Delhi bill, already passed in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, to bring attention to issues in Manipur. Trinamool Congress floor leader Derek O'Brien stated that the INDIA alliance will use parliamentary rules to expose the Narendra Modi government on matters related to Manipur during the debate.