BJP to face stormy session
George Iype in New Delhi
The Atal Bihari Vajpayee government will face an angry Opposition and a miffed group of its allies in Parliament when the Budget session resumes on Friday.
While the Opposition parties led by the Congress chalked out their
strategy on Thursday to grill the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government for its failures on all fronts, the signals from the coalition's biggest ally -- the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham -- have been confusing to the BJP leadership.
"We will wait and watch every move of the AIADMK now. For the second half of the Budget session is very crucial, and we do not know what is on Jayalalitha's mind," a BJP official told Rediff On The
NeT.
The approval of the Railway Budget and the Finance Bill for 1998-99 is
the main business of the session. As the BJP leaders are wary
of the AIADMK's stand in the Lok Sabha, the non-passage of the bills
would result in the government's collapse.
The AIADMK general secretary on Wednesday decided against pulling the rug from under the Vajpayee government for not conceding her demand to dismiss the M Karunanidhi-led Dravida Munnetra Kazagham government in Tamil Nadu.
But the BJP leadership is still apprehensive that she may rattle the government during the Budget session by pulling out the two AIADMK ministers from the coalition.
The BJP Parliamentary Party, which met in New Delhi on Thursday to take stock of the political situation arising out of Jayalalitha's strident
demand, advised party MPs to be "tactical and cautious" while dealing with the allies.
The BJP leadership is hopeful that it can still convince
Jayalalitha with reason -- that the Vajpayee government cannot go beyond the constitutional and legal framework within which Article 356 of the Constitution has to be used to dismiss a state government.
"We do not think there will be any difficulty in getting the Railway
Budget and the Finance Bills passed in Parliament. We still have
comfortable numbers with us," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Madan Lal Khurana told Rediff On The NeT.
He said if any of the BJP's allies have any complaints and reservations,
they could air it before the prime minister during the co-ordination committee meetings. "I do not think the small problems between the BJP and its allies will pose any difficulty in Parliament," Khurana said.
He added that the BJP Parliamentary Party and all its allies will meet on Friday morning to fine-tune the strategy for the session.
One of Jayalalitha's complaints has been that AIADMK ministers are not being allowed to function freely in the Vajpayee government.
According to Congress leader Rajesh Pilot, it will not be the Opposition, but the BJP's allies who will cause extreme embarrassment to the Vajpayee government. ''The ruling partners, not others, will stage a walk-out," Pilot told Rediff On The NeT.
He disclosed that the Congress will home in on the Budget that Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha presented on June 1.
During the last few days of the first part of the Budget session,
AIADMK MPs had been walking out of both Houses of Parliament by raising the demand for the dismissal of the Karunanidhi government in Tamil Nadu.
Many believe the government will find itself in an embarrassing position if Jayalalitha decides to withdraw her ministers from the Vajpayee ministry as a precursor to an ultimate withdrawal of support.
Prime Minister Vajpayee has put on hold a Cabinet
expansion due to bickerings within the coalition. But the deputy
speaker of the Lok Sabha and the deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha are to be elected during this session.
While Congress MP Najma Heptulla may bag the post of deputy chairman of the Upper House, the ruling coalition and the Opposition will contest the deputy speaker's election.
Meanwhile, the Left parties, which dominate trade unions in the banking, insurance and other public sector units, have decided to vehemently oppose the proposal to open the insurance sector to private Indian companies.
''We will force Sinha to abandon the proposal. If necessary, a cut motion will be moved,'' leaders of Left parties said.
Besides opposing the Finance Bill, the Opposition parties plan to
take the government to task for the ''deteriorating situation'' in
the Kashmir valley and the fallout of the economic sanctions after
the nuclear tests.
Additional reportage: UNI
Tell us what you think of this report
|