The monsoon session of Parliament has been further delayed, indicating that the session may be convened on August 7 instead of earlier planned July 30.
The UPA II government is facing an internal crisis to find a successor of Pranab Mukherjee as the Leader of Lok Sabha.
The necessity to convene the monsoon session is the Vice Presidential poll on August 7, for which 790 MPs have to be present in New Delhi.
Insiders feel that either Prime Minister Manmohan Singh or the UPA leadership is interested in having the Parliament convened.
UPA II is testing the opposition strength. First it set off formation of EGoM on 2G with Home Minister P Chidambaram. There was no major opposition from the Left or BJP. Now the UPA will wait for another salvo. But when it comes to the leadership of Lok Sabha, senior Congress leaders want a Hindi speaking leader like Sushil Kumar Shinde.
Once the Leader of Lok Sabha is identified the subsequent political decision will be to convene monsoon session of Parliament, said a highly placed source.
In a related development the Union Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs has issued circular to the Chairmen of Standing Committees to have their meetings from July 18 to 21.
This will facilitate the Members of Parliament to reach Delhi to be in time to cast their votes for Presidential polls
The MPs need not purchase air tickets to arrive in Delhi as the standing committee will bear their air expenses.
Earlier the government intended to have monsoon session from July 16, the usual practice during Presidential polls, so that the MPs can cast vote while Parliament is in session.
