On the eve of the commencement of the second half of the Budget Session, an armed-to-the-teeth Opposition on Sunday made no pretence of its intent to launch a full-throttle attack on the beleaguered UPA Government.
It rejected Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari’s proposals for automatic suspension of disorderly MPs to ensure a smooth functioning of Parliament and a deferred telecast of the House proceedings. In the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Opposition leaders at the all-party meeting convened by Ansari made it clear the proposals were not acceptable to them.
leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitely said the House will run on the sense of responsibility of the members. As for the issue of automatic suspension, he maintained it could lead to a situation where minority becomes majority. He said the Government could use the situation to get the contentious bills passed, sources pointed out.
The worsening law and order scenario in Delhi against the backdrop of the horrific rape of a five-year-old girl; JPC’s clean chit to the Prime Minister and Finance Minister P Chidambaram in its draft report on the 2G scam; and the Government vetting the CBI’s status report on coalgate before its submission to the Supreme Court are some of the key issues that the Opposition will raise leaving little breathing space for the Government.
With the second half of the session thus all set to be a stormy affair, Government’s principal worry is to get its financial business and Budget passed by Parliament. Some other crucial legislations on land Acquisition, Food Security, FDI in pension and insurance are also lined up.
Referring to the unruly scenes on the last day of first phase of the Budget Session on March 23 when AIADMK members broke mikes and hurled papers while raising the Sri lankan Tamils issue, Ansari said there was a feeling outside of collective shame and hooliganism following the incident and suggested deferred telecast of proceedings and naming members who troop into the Well of the House in Rajya Sabha bulletin, the sources said.
Derek O'Brien of the Trinamool Congress said the suggestion of deferred live telecast was not practical and would not address the problem. He said if situation goes beyond control, then the cameras telecasting the proceedings could be turned off.
But CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury was categorical in rejecting the idea outright. “There is no question of stopping the telecast. None of us would agree. The public has right to know what is happening in the House,” he told reporters after the meeting. Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut also expressed his strong displeasure on the proposal saying the Government cannot suppress the voice of Opposition and the media by stopping direct telecast. “Why will you stop itIJ You cannot tie the Opposition inside the House.”
The chasm between the Opposition and the Government will further widen on April 25 when the JPC discussed the draft report on 2G scam. The BJP is sore over the JPC pointing fingers at former Prime Minister and ailing NDA stalwart Atal Bihari Vajpayee while bailing out Manmohan Singh and P Chidambaram.
"They (UPA) have questioned the role of our tallest leader, knowing fully well that he is not in a state to defend his case. Compare it with the case wherein clean chit has been given to the PM and Chidambaram even without asking them to appear before the JPC. How can you expect cooperation from us under such circumstancesIJ They should not expect support from us," a senior BJP functionary said.
BJP chief Rajnath Singh also told The Pioneer that JPC's decision to name Vajpayee in a scandal involving UPA Government was certainly not acceptable. "We cannot take it lying down," Singh said.
DMK, UPA's second largest partner, has already walked out of the alliance and is seething with anger for pinning the 2G blame entirely on its leader A Raja. The UPA will have to toil hard to arrange numbers in case of a vote.
The UPA survives on the outside support by 22 MPs of Samajwadi Party and 21 of the Bahujan Samaj Party. However, the Congress is in a fix to strike a balance between the two on 'reservation in promotion' issue. The BSP is in favour while the SP is opposed to it.
last weeks of the first half of the Budget Session got disrupted after the SP created ruckus inside the House when the Congress chose to push through a related Bill. The BSP has already threatened to resort to the 'extreme steps' if its 'reservation in promotion' demand did not see the light of the day soon.