The Hindu : National : BJP wants all-party meet

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 17, 2004

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National

BJP wants all-party meet

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, DEC. 16 . The Bharatiya Janata Party today demanded a meeting of all party leaders to discuss the manner of "functioning of the Lok Sabha and the Speaker.'' The party spokesman, V.K. Malhotra, said the BJP was "unhappy'' with the way the House was being run. This and other matters would be discussed at a meeting of the National Democratic Alliance soon.

Mr. Malhotra said he did not want to discuss the Speaker outside (in public), but added: "we have plenty to say on the subject of the Speaker and the functioning of the Government, but it is not appropriate to say it here.''

Referring to the statement made by the Speaker offering to resign as he had been described as a dictator, Mr. Malhotra tried to clarify that the word `tanashah' (dictator) was not used by his party MPs against the Speaker. In the name of "detoxification,'' the Government was being dictatorial, throwing all norms to the wind. He referred to the change of Governors, to the Government favouring "committed bureaucrats,'' and to the replacement of even teachers.

Those who were in the House, however, pointed out that the BJP members had in fact used the word `tanashah' repeatedly when the Speaker had objected to the adjournment of the House demanded by former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

While demanding an all-party meeting to discuss all these issues, he said the NDA would meet to thrash these out and to hammer out the Opposition's response to this.

The Congress spokesperson, Anand Sharma, was critical of the BJP's comments about the Speaker and added that it was not the Congress but the BJP which was undemocratic and dictatorial. Outside the House, the Union Minister, Kapil Sibal, was reported to have said that the BJP had tried to undermine all institutions — when in power its leaders had criticised the chairman of the Human Rights Commission and the Chief Election Commissioner.

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