General elections may held in March
Hyderabad: Faced with a piquant situation in the wake of drubbing in four state polls and a no-confidence motion against its government following its move to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh, the Congress party is reportedly mulling over of adjourning the Lok Sabha sine die on Friday and go in for elections in March or early April.
Sources in Delhi say the Lok Sabha may be prorogued and a brief budget session may be convened sometime in the second week of January to pass the vote-on-account budget.
This, the sources say, will set the stage for elections in March or April. This theory is gaining currency despite Union Minister Kamal Nath's assertion on Wednesday that the polls would be held on schedule in May.
It may be mentioned here that the fractious 15th Lok Sabha was marked by frequent clashes and allegations of corruption, scams like Coalgate, and 2G spectrum. The 2009 Lok Sabha elections were held from April 16 to May 13 and the results were declared on May 16. In 2004, the results were declared on May 13.
The UPA government has been facing flak from the main opposition BJP and other parties over its failure to ensure creation of Telangana state as well as passage of the Jan Lokpal Bill.
Though the government is keen to push through the T Bill, there has been open defiance by its own party MPs. It was also being said that if the President did not give at least 40 days time to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly to discuss the Draft T Bill and send it back to him, the Chief Minister may seek dissolution of the Assembly.
Minister for Minor Irrigation TG Venkatesh confirmed this to the media on Wednesday. However, this possibility was precluded as Pranab Mukherjee referred the Bill to the AP Assembly and gave 40 days.
Meanwhile, the meeting of Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy with Governor ESL Narsimhan assumed significance and it is understood that they discussed the political situation in the state.
News Posted: 12 December, 2013
|
