Modi Govt girding up loins to face Opp attack

The Government has decided to go on the offensive to counter the Opposition’s attack on the issues including Vyapam scam, ‘lalitgate’, black money and the latest socio economic caste census (SECC). At the last meeting of Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs on June 24, it was decided to battle out the controversies on the floor of the House and a conscious decision was taken not to shorten the Monsoon session.

The strategy is expected to be finalised before the all party meeting to be held on July 20, a day before the three- week session begins. The Monsoon session begins on July 21 and ends on August 13. The contentious land Bill may not be taken up during this session because the Government is on a sticky wicket after allies and RSS affiliates raised objections on several of its provisions.

After the discussions in the CCPA meeting on pros and cons of reducing the session duration, it was felt that the ruling dispensation should not be appearing to be on the backfoot from the very outset. The possibility of increasing the session, however, for a week if required later was also discussed during the meeting.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s has already indicated that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Scindia will not be asked to quit as demanded by the Congress and other Opposition parties. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh too now have under the attack of Opposition due to corruption issues in their States.

BJP sources said on Vyapam issue, Chouhan seeking a CBI probe is also part of the strategy to blunt the Opposition attack. Senior BJP leaders have been asked to counter the Opposition attack by arguing that appointments were made by the previous Congress Governments in Madhya Pradesh in an “arbitrary” manner and it was the Chouhan who in 2007 decided to do away with arbitrary procedures and introduced a “transparent” mechanism for recruitment. 

Congress has also mounted an attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi accusing him of having “contempt for the poor” and alleging that the “suit book ki sarkar” is only focused on the rich. The party is also planning to raise it in the session. The Government line is that the census findings showed the “misplaced” priorities during successive Congress regimes.