BJP has team of 'night watchmen' for late sittings in LS, House also witnesses light moments

By Pragya Kaushika
New Delhi [India], February 11 (ANI): With Lok Sabha sitting late hours this week to finish pending legislative agenda of the government, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has deployed a team of "night watchmen" to ensure that official business has smooth sailing in the House.
Apart from ministers who have listed business and those on roster duties, some other ministers including Giriraj Singh, Anurag Thakur, Dharmendra Pradhan, Piyush Goyal and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat have been present during the late sittings of the House.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi and MoS Arjun Ram Meghwal are also present.
BJP members Nishikant Dubey, Ramesh Bidhuri, Satish Gautam, Rajendra Aggarwal and Vinod Sonkar, Sunita Duggal have also been present.
Ministers and members can be seen engaging in occasional banter and the House also has lighter moments.
In her speech on the budget, BJP MP Hema Malini made a comparison to her double role in the movie 'Seeta aur Geeta'.
She said Sita was fearful, introvert and shy and Gita was fearless and bold and noted the economy was seeing transformation "towards Gita" due to the government initiatives. Thakur quipped "and it's a "dream' budget".
There was also a moment when a BJP member was on opposition benches when a member of an opposition party took potshots at the ruling party. He asked if BJP members were patriots, were they anti-nationals. The BJP member then quickly moved back to the treasury benches.
At another point when an opposition member rose to criticize the new farm laws, treasury bench members asked him about the title of laws. However, he evaded a reply.
BJP members have also pointed to opposition benches having very few members at times.
These senior leaders have been tasked to ensure that the important business of the government is completed. They also ensure coordination with allies as part of the floor strategy.
The House is sitting later hours to finish the priority agenda of the government before the recess. Speaker Om Birla has also been keen to provide maximum opportunity to members to take part in the debates. The first part of the budget session will conclude on Saturday. (ANI)