By IANS
New Delhi : The government may cut short the budget session of parliament if the opposition continues stalling it, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi said Monday.
The parliament is scheduled to sit till May 21, but it could be adjourned sine die by May 17, Dasmunsi said while commenting on repeated attempts of the opposition to stall proceedings in the two houses of parliament.
"If things continue this way, then we may have to decide to prepone the adjournment sine die," he said, but added in the same breath: "I have been assured by all the parties that they will cooperate and if they do then we will be able to complete all the bills within the stipulated time."
On Monday, the Lok Sabha was repeatedly adjourned and finally adjourned for the day with most of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MPs walking into the well of the house raising slogans against the Maharashtra government for constructing the Babli dam on the Godavari river, ignoring objections raised by neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.
TDP chief and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu held a sit-in at Jantar Mantar near the Parliament House to protest the Maharashtra move.
In the Rajya Sabha, the AIADMK stalled the proceedings over the violence in Chennai last week following the family feud in its rival DMK that rules Tamil Nadu.
The main business of the budget session, the passage of the Union Budget and the Finance Bill for 2007-08, has already been completed May 3 and therefore there is very little urgent business for the government.
Since then various parties have been pressing different issues in the two houses.
The main opposition, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been pressing for an immediate discussion of the Setu Samudram project, which is dear to the DMK, an important constituent of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA).
On the other hand, the Left, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the Samajwadi Party and even the Congress have been insisting on an early discussion on the extra-judicial killings in the BJP-ruled Gujarat.