08-26-2008, 11:21 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->A decision to convene the session was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs, chaired by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday. <b>The five-week session will be the second phase of the two-day session which saw the Manmohan Singh government winning the trust vote. </b>It was dubbed as "tainted victory" by the opposition in the wake of alleged cash-for-vote scam. The government convened the two-day session of the Lok Sabha on July 21 after Left parties withdrew their support to it on the Indo-US nuclear deal issue.
<b>"Lok Sabha is not prorogued and it will be the continuation of the earlier session," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi told reporters after the meeting. </b>He sidestepped questions whether it would be the last session of the 14th Lok Sabha.
<b>The schedule for the session has apparently been fixed to accommodate Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit in September to UN </b>for the General Assembly. The schedule has been <b>arranged in such a way that there was no possibility of a winter session which normally begins in November.</b>
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Please note the bolded part. It is very critical to call this a continuation of the old session to preclude another vote of confidence. There are some arcane rules that say only one vote of confidence can be brought in one session. After the defections and cross votings and the consequent expulsions the Lok Sabha strength has been reduced and the Oppostion has fair chance of defeating the UPA. The scheme is to prevent the call of another vote of confidence. The reporter is ignorant of the rule.
And the Speaker is a willing accomplice in this game.