The Hindu : New Delhi News : Poor floor strategy dilutes BJP's protest

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Dec 19, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Poor floor strategy dilutes BJP's protest

By Sujay Mehdudia

NEW DELHI, DEC. 18. Although the Bharatiya Janata Party legislators kicked off the winter session of the Delhi Assembly on a stormy note stalling the proceedings on the issue of hike in water tariffs, but the subsequent poor floor strategy and lack of proper direction the next day diluted the impact of its protest and made a mockery of sensitive issues they had sought to raise inside the House.

Interestingly, what has been the most unfortunate part of the BJP story inside the Vidhan Sabha is the continued attempt by the Leader of the Opposition, Jagdish Mukhi, to hog the limelight on all issues and not allowing any of his colleagues to raise important issues. This has been the bane of the BJP for the past few years and time and again its attempt to corner the Sheila Dikshit Government has fallen flat on the face. Even after the passage of almost six years Mr. Mukhi seems not to have learnt from his past mistakes. It has become a norm with the Leader of the Opposition to not only raise all issues but also intervene in matters raised by his colleagues leading to strong resentment within the party set-up.

The BJP began the session on a strong note and stalled the proceedings of the House on the issue of hike in water tariff. They did not let the House function for almost 50 minutes and the Question Hour could not be taken up on the first day. However, the next day the chinks in the armour of the BJP legislature group came out in the open when Mr. Mukhi, for some strange reason, sought to raise the issue of unilateral abrogation of the water sharing agreement by the Congress-led Punjab Government and wanted the House to pass a resolution condemning such a move. Everyone was surprised as this issue had nothing to do with Delhi and was no longer relevant in the scheme of things. Instead of focussing on issues relating to Delhi including imposition of new taxes, Mr. Mukhi raised an unrelated issue raising eyebrows over the kind of strategy being chalked out and followed by BJP.

Also deplorable has been the action of some BJP legislators inside the House who have thrown all norms of decency and prestige of the House to the wind. The shouting brigade of the BJP has also not spared the Speaker and has challenged his ruling time and again. The more unfortunate part is that there has been no attempt on the part of their leader or their chief whip, Sahib Singh Chauhan, to tame these erring MLAs.

Those who are part of the notorious lot include the Tughlakabad MLA, Ramesh Bidhuri, and the Shahbad Daulautpur MLA, Kulwant Rana. Both the MLAs have made a mockery of the House rules and have tried to dictate the proceedings of the House. Interestingly, the two MLAs were expelled on both the days the Assembly was in session for trying to disrupt the proceedings of the House and behave in unruly manner.

The performance of the Saket MLA, Vijay Jolly, has also left much to be desired and he needs to put in some extra effort and focus on issues related to the people if he has to emerge as an outstanding legislator. All these young legislators among the 20 BJP legislature party have to assert themselves and raise their voice for a more active role inside and outside the Assembly. "It is high time that leaders like Mr.Mukhi showed some magnanimity and gave others including the younger lot a chance to speak or initiate debates on important issues as this will only help the cause of the party,'' a senior party leader remarked.

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