This Parliament Session: A Cooler Smriti, A Sachin That Speaks?

The monsoon session of parliament, which begins today, is in effect a 20-day session. A lot of parliamentary work and national politics will be packed into these 20 days, this P20 if I may. 10 MPs or sets of MPs are worth watching out for in this period. The list is not exhaustive, but it is the list I have drawn up from my political assessment. So here's my 10 for P20:

1. The Congress legal eagles: P. Chidambaram and Kapil Sibal are back in the Rajya Sabha, fresh from their courtroom victories in Arunachal Pradesh and, earlier, Uttarakhand. The Congress has rolled out the big guns to take on the government in the Upper House where the NDA is in a minority. They are senior, mature politicians and the government may be hoping for a good working relationship. I suspect, though, that things will get tougher.

2. H. Ananth Kumar: The veteran MP from Bangalore was given a less-than-significant portfolio in the BJP government in 2014, but he's bounced back and been made Minister for Parliamentary Affairs. It's his job to navigate the government's legislative agenda in Parliament and particularly the Rajya Sabha. The GST legislation is his major test, his baptism by fire. Can he succeed where his predecessors have failed?

3. Smriti Irani: By all accounts, she comes to this session a notch down, having lost a high-profile portfolio (being switched from HRD to Textiles) and being dropped from the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs. Will we see a tepid, quieter Smriti Irani this time? Will there be snowfall in Delhi this summer?
 4. Prakash Javadekar: How fortune changes. Two years ago, there was uncertainty about him coming back to parliament. Now he's been promoted to cabinet rank and given the HRD portfolio to boot. The HRD Ministry has been unusually controversial of late, with charges of saffronisation, high-handedness, and insensitive handling of campus disaffection and student grievances. Javadekar is a genteel and affable man, popular with even the opposition. Let's see how his new job treats him.

5. Anupriya Patel: My (former) colleague in the Railway Convention Committee, a young, intelligent woman politician from Uttar Pradesh, she is by some accounts the BJP's bet for the future in the state. She's just become Minister of State for Health. This is her first executive office and her many rivals from Uttar Pradesh (including from within the BJP) will be watching her hawk-eyed.
 6. Raj Babbar: Uttar Pradesh is clearly the election to watch out for. The Congress has surprised many by nominating Babbar, a former movie star and hitherto not regarded a political heavyweight, as state unit president. He'll walk into parliament with that spring in his step to match trousers that always seem to be above his navel.

7. Misa Bharti: A newly-minted RJD MP, she is the daughter of Lalu Yadav and Rabri Devi, both former Chief Ministers of Bihar. This gives her a unique status for trivia buffs, but the political legacy she brings is anything but trivial. A lot of people are waiting to see how she will perform in parliament. Incidentally, while laws have been named after sponsoring legislators (particularly in the United States), Misa is probably the first legislator to be named after a law: the Emergency-era Maintenance of Internal Security Act or MISA.

8. Press Corner: MJ Akbar, who was already a star editor when I was still starting out as a rookie sports writer, is now Minister of State in the Foreign Ministry. Swapan Dasgupta, a very agreeable man who writes very disagreeable columns, will add to the BJP intellectual firepower in the Rajya Sabha. Subhas Chandra, on whose Zee Network I conducted my first television show, the Bournvita Quiz Contest, comes to parliament from Haryana. The media will now report on its own.
 9. Podium Finishers: Of the 12 nominated MPs in the Rajya Sabha, an unprecedented three are sportspersons, with Navjot Sidhu and Mary Kom joining Sachin Tendulkar. Who'll speak first? I suspect it'll be gag-a-minute Sidhu. But I'm keener on hearing Mary Kom, a boxer and Olympic medallist from one of my favourite states, Manipur (my great-grandfather, Thomas O'Brien, was post master general in Imphal in the 1880s and is buried in Manipur). Of course we're still waiting for Mr T to make his first speech. It's been four years, Sachin, get the scoreboard moving.

10. Trinamool 46: The 46 MPs of the Trinamool Congress could be forgiven that slight swagger as they walk into Parliament. This is the first session since the milestone assembly election in West Bengal, which saw Mamata Banerjee lead us to a massive victory and 211 seats in a legislature of 294. The verdict has enhanced the standing of our party in Delhi, and this will be underscored when Mamata di visits between July 25 and 27. As she enters Central Hall and sips tea and bites into a crispy toast at the Parliament Canteen, the political establishment in the national capital will have a lot to chew on.


Derek O'Brien is leader, Parliamentary party Trinamool Congress (RS), and Chief National spokesperson of the party.

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