Govt tries to break Oppn ranks on Insurance Bill

The government is making behind-the-scenes offers to other parties in a bid to break them but as long as the Congress is firm on the decision, there is little that the government can achieve on the Insurance Bill.

Rediff.com contributor Renu Mittal reports

Impasse continues in the Rajya Sabha over the Insurance Bill with Congress President Sonia Gandhi making it clear in a meeting of the Congress leaders on Tuesday that “they will fight the Bill tooth and nail and there is no question of agreeing with the government”, even as the government is continuing its efforts to break the unity of the ten political parties who have demanded that the Bill be sent to the select committee.

The government will convene yet another committee of party leaders on Wednesday morning to discuss and convince the parties to agree to pass the Bill and even move their own amendments, which the government will agree to.

But so far the political parties have not caved in and parties like the Trinamool Congress and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam have remained firm in their resolve to send the Bill to the select committee.

Sonia congratulated the Trinamool Congress for standing firm in its decision not to side with the government.

The government is working overtime to woo political parties.

They have offered the chairmanship of the standing committee on finance to the Biju Janata Dal, though it was one of the committees earmarked for the Congress and former Union Minister Veerappa Moily was set to be its chairman.

Similarly, the government is said to be making behind-the-scenes offers to other parties in a bid to break them but sources say that as long as the Congress is firm on the decision, there is little that the government can achieve.

Senior ministers of the government have floated the idea of bringing in an ordinance once the Budget session ends on August 14, which is seen as one way out of this mess which has been created with neither side willing to give an inch.

But it is felt that talk of an ordinance is more in the nature of trying to pressurise the Opposition and may finally not happen, since it sends a wrong message politically.