Today in Politics: Parliament formally kicks off today, President to address joint session as Oppn hones attack

President Droupadi Murmu will address the joint sitting of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on Thursday, where she is expected to unveil the priorities of the newly elected government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Murmu’s address to the joint session of Parliament will also be the first after the 18th Lok Sabha was constituted on Monday. The Rajya Sabha session will begin on June 27.

According to Article 87 of the Constitution, the President addresses a joint session of Parliament at the beginning of the Session after each Lok Sabha election. The President also addresses a joint sitting of both Houses in the first Session of Parliament every year.

Following the President’s address, the ruling party will move a motion of thanks in both Houses of the Parliament, which will be debated by members. Prime Minister Modi is likely to reply to the debate on the motion of thanks on July 2-3.

A resurgent Opposition is expected to corner the government on a range of issues such as NEET-UG irregularities, cancellation of UGC-NET, terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, train accidents in the country, and rising prices of essential commodities during the Parliament Session.

Indicating that ties between the government and Opposition may not improve in the coming Parliament, Modi made a mention of the Emergency, whose 49th anniversary fell on Tuesday, to attack the Congress, even as he asked for “consensus” while kicking off the Session. The BJP also held programmes across the country, with its leaders issuing statements, over the invoking of the provision by the Indira Gandhi-led Congress government in 1975.

On Wednesday, soon after he was re-elected as Lok Sabha Speaker, Om Birla too mentioned the Emergency and the Congress’s association