Coronavirus appears to have become a strategic tool in the wake of the political crisis in Madhya Pradesh where the Kamal Nath government is staring at an uncertain future after over 20 Congress MLAs sent in their resignation. There is a speculation that the Narendra Modi government's reluctance to stop the ongoing budget session of Parliament has to do with its keenness to not end up justifying the adjournment of the MP state assembly.
In the backdrop of speculation that the ongoing budget session of Parliament may be cut short because of COVID-19, the Union government has made it clear that the session will go on till April 3 as planned.
The Madhya Pradesh assembly met on Monday for the commencement of the budget session, but focus was on if the Congress has the numbers to continue in the government. The BJP claimed that the Congress lost the majority. The house was adjourned till March 26 in view of concerns expressed over the spread of coronavirus.
However, the BJP leaders have argued that if Parliament can function in the midst of the COVID-19 scare, so can the Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha.
There is speculation that the BJP is guided by the thinking that stopping the Parliament session would validate the MP government's move to get the session adjourned.
The Congress has been outspoken in its criticism of the Modi government not stopping the budget session of Parliament, saying it was in contradiction with the prime minister himself emphasising about social distancing to prevent the spread of Ccoronavirus.
“There is some degree of contradiction in what the prime minister says about having social distancing, that you should work from home, shut schools and colleges en masse, and when courts are functioning at 10-20 per cent, and then making an exception for Parliament. On what principled basis can Parliament be an exception? Parliament would have something like 1,000-1,500 people everyday, possibly 2,000,” said Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi.
“I don't think there should be one day less functioning of Parliament. But we have an in-built mechanism to make up. If you don't sit now, you can sit later. These calibrated, correct, nuanced approaches would be better for Parliament and in line with the prime minister's thinking. It is odd, a contradiction and a paradox that all around you there are limitations, but there is hunky-dory here,” Singhvi said.
