The smooth functioning of Parliament during the Winter Session depends on the approach of the Centre towards the adjournment motions submitted by a united Opposition on the withdrawal of high denomination notes. Though a section of the Opposition wants complete rollback of the announcement, the prominent demand is to allow “white transactions” using the ₹500 and ₹1000 currency notes at least till December 31.

The Opposition is also peeved at the reports that certain BJP units deposited huge amounts of cash in banks a day ahead of the announcement of the decision. They also cite the unprecedented increase in the investment in bank accounts in September to press their argument that the Centre failed to maintain the confidentiality of the decision.

At a meeting convened by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought the support of all parties in the Centre’s endeavour to “rein in black money”. The meeting comes ahead of the Winter Session which begins on Wednesday.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar told reporters after the meeting that Modi wanted to go beyond the step of “demonetisation” and urged the parties to start discussions about public funding of elections and on holding simultaneous elections. “He said it is time to evolve a transparent mechanism for political funding,” Kumar said and termed the allegations about “selective leakage” as baseless.

Detailed discussion A release from the Ministry said the Prime Minister said since all parties are concerned about the consequences of unaccounted money on the economy, let the issue should be discussed in detail along with other issues of concern in the Winter Session of Parliament. “Parliament is the right forum to send out a positive message about Politicians by addressing the issues appropriately. Politicians are accused of several things and it was time we could send out a positive message to the people,” the Prime Minister said.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the decision was only a part of the larger strategy of the Centre to tackle corruption and unaccounted money. He added that opening of bank accounts for a large number of people was a central piece of the broad strategy to checkmate the flow of unaccounted money. “Round tripping of monies through Mauritius, Cyprus and now Singapore was effectively checked,” Jaitley reportedly said in the meeting.

Opposing the decision Opposition leader in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said the Opposition is united in opposing the Centre’s decision. Commenting on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s decision to meet President Pranab Mukherjee on the issue, Azad said it was her personal decision. He said a joint call will be taken after witnessing the result of discussions in Parliament. “It is a big scam. The Centre selectively leaked the information about withdrawal of notes to many. How did this happen?” Azad asked.

The Opposition members demanded that issues such as farmers’ distress, problems in Kashmir valley, delay in appointment of judges and attacks against Dalits must be discussed in Parliament. Kumar said the Centre is ready to discuss any issues in Parliament.

Meanwhile, the Centre has shown keenness to pass 19 legislations during the session. This includes the Central Goods and Services Tax Bill, the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Bill, the Goods and Services Tax (Compensation for Loss of Revenue) Bill, the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, the Divorce (Amendment) Bill, the Factories (Amendment) Bill and the Prevention of Corruption (amendment) Bill.

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