The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Short session, a trap for the Opposition?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 23, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Short session, a trap for the Opposition?

By V. Jayanth

CHENNAI, JULY 22. The eight-day budget session of the Assembly has sparked an intense debate among political parties and pushed the focus to "what could have been" in a longer session of the legislature.

Except for the ruling All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) all the other parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), have been critical of the decision to hold a short session.

`Expose Government'

There is a feeling among sections of the Opposition legislators that they should still have participated in the session and made use of every opportunity to "expose the undemocratic style of functioning" of the present regime.

"Why is the Government afraid of holding a full budget session this time. Should we not discuss the demand for grants to all departments in detail? As the supreme body of elected representatives for the State, is this how the Assembly going to function?" asked a Congress MLA. He was all for taking on the Government on the floor of the House.

Reacting to the Chief Minister's remark at a press conference today that so much had been done after the budget was presented, the Congress legislator asked: "Is that proper? Can we have a mini-budget through statements in the inter-session period? Are we not entitled to discuss this approach to financial management of the State?"

Some of his colleagues felt that the Opposition parties "fell into the trap laid for them." They said a boycott was what the ruling party wanted, so that they could rush through the whole agenda and record all the "sweeping statements that they want to make." And they would have it that way.

`Credibility erosion'

A former Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) Minister explained, "We cannot accept this denigration of the House. It would be an insult to us to discuss 10, 20 or 30 departments together, in one day. The people are already losing faith in the legislature and this attitude will further erode the credibility. We were looking forward to a constructive session and intensive debates on key issues this time." (See chart)

Asked what difference it would make if the entire Opposition walked out of debates, he said, "We are certainly not happy walking out. It is only when we feel that our rights are being denied and we are not allowed to have our say that we take such a step. The people have given us the role of the Opposition and we have to perform that."

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