(Image source from: With 44 bills in queue)

RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav rightly recapitulated UPA's footing when he said at the all-party meeting last week: “Whatever you (the government) would like to do to protect the supremacy of Parliament, do it during this monsoon session. There may not be another session before the polls."

And it isn't just Lalu alone, but a large section of the opposition too, who deem monsoon session critical and one last major opportunity for UPA to pass key bills.

The winter session of the Parliament will concur with assembly elections. So UPA might face resistance from the opposition when passing bills then.

With as many as 44  long-pending bills in queue, UPS has but a 16-day window to push the key bills.

In the past six sessions spread across 24 months, the UPA has passed a total of just 49 bills of 116 pending ones.

Meanwhile, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has plans to mousetrap the UPA on economic crisis and rake up the FDI issue to unsettle the government.

Expressing its intention to support the government on legislative agendas, NDA said that it will cooperate with the UPA only if national issues like Uttarakhand tragedy and the Ishrat Jahan case are given thought and time in the assembly session.

“After a meeting of NDA floor leaders at the residence of senior BJP leader LK Advani, BJP's deputy leader in Rajya Sabha Ravi Shankar Prasad said if legislation is crucial for the government, articulation of issues of national interest was vital for the opposition.”

With so much on its plate, UPA needs to be careful not to bite off more than it can chew!

AW: Suchorita Dutta