The Hindu : National : Monsoon session expected to be stormy

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Saturday, Jul 24, 2010
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National

Monsoon session expected to be stormy

Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party's last-minute rejection of a lunch invitation from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here on Friday was the first sign that the monsoon session of Parliament starting on Monday would see a no-holds-barred confrontation between the ruling United Progressive Alliance and the main opposition party.

At a meeting of party whips hosted by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal there was the general view that Parliament should function in a constructive manner and there should be no disruption. However, the BJP's stance of giving a political colour to charges of criminal conspiracy to murder filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation against the party's Minister of State for Home in Gujarat Amit Shah has set the stage for a standoff.

“I wish the BJP had responded positively to the Prime Minister's lunch invitation. Its leaders could have discussed whatever was on their mind. In Gujarat a legal process is on and it had its own timetable. A charge sheet had to be filed within 90 days of the arrest of a senior Gujarat police officer in April,” Mr. Bansal said.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Prithviraj Chavan laughed off the BJP charge that the CBI was acting under political directions from the Centre.

He said: “The CBI had investigated independently under the direction of the court. It should be nobody's case that the crime of three fake encounters/murders should go unpunished. The Gujarat government had itself admitted to the extra-judicial killings and everyone should welcome a fair investigation.”

The BJP is still hoping that on prices, the Bhopal gas tragedy and the escape of then Union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson in 1984, on the recent India-Pakistan talks that ended on a sour note, and a host of other subjects including the handling of Kashmir affairs and Naxals, the right and left opposition would be united. But the government is confident that on the surfacing of terror links with some RSS functionaries and the charge sheet against Mr. Shah, even the BJP's allies will not want to stand with their political partners, let alone the left opposition and other parties.

Besides, the government has listed the Women's Reservation Bill, among the bills for consideration and passing in the Lok Sabha. On this again there is less than unanimity among opposition parties. The calculation is that the BJP which supported the bill in the Rajya Sabha will have problems fine-tuning its strategy for the Lok Sabha given the considerable opposition to the bill within the party. The government is also seeking the opposition's response to a proposal to move the question hours in the two Houses to later in the day to prevent a daily demand from the opposition that the hour be suspended to take up other business.

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