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BJP’s Lokpal hurry adds to govt worries

On the face of it, prime minister Manmohan Singh’s optimism about a smooth sailing budget session of Parliament seems justified.

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On the face of it, prime minister Manmohan Singh’s optimism about a smooth sailing budget session of Parliament seems justified. After all, as his parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Bansal pointed out, the numbers insofar as their allies and supporting partners are concerned have remained unchanged.

But experience shows that numbers just provide cold comfort to the UPA-2 in parliament. Its ally, the Trinamool Congress, and the supporting party Samajwadi Party have proven ability to keep the government on tenterhooks. So, Bansal has spoken of the need to discuss the issues with the allies and supporting parties as well as opposition before taking major steps in the session.

The government’s crisis managers have their hands full in keeping TMC chief Mamata Bannerjee and SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav in good humour; more so because of continued speculation about mid-term polls. Banerjee has called off her decision to attend the oath-taking ceremonies of the Punjab and Uttar Pradesh chief ministers, even as union minister of state for parliamentary affairs Rajiv Shukla asserted that neither the prime minister nor union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee dissuaded her from doing so, as reported in a section of the media.

In the light of these uncertainties, Bansal pointed out that the Lokpal Bill that ran into 187 amendments in the Rajya Sabha after it was passed in the Lok Sabha during the last session would have to wait. “You see that according to the Rajya Sabha rules, when Parliament is prorogued all the amendments moved in the previous lapse automatically,” he said.

But the BJP remains belligerent on the issue and has demanded that the Rajya Sabha debate on the Lokpal bill should be resumed from the point at which it was left. “The objection about the amendments getting lapsed is a technical one,” said deputy leader of the party in the House SS Ahluwalia.

BJP leaders LK Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley met Pranab Mukherjee to demand that the question hour be suspended for discussing the Bill. Mukherjee is reported to have conveyed that they should not disrupt the question hour and the raise the issue later on.

For the government and Bansal, getting the budgets passed will remain the first priority during the first half of the session that ends on March 30. Bansal indicated that the House would not be transacting any other official business and would spend times discussing the issues like black money, infringement on federalism and custody of two NRI children in Norway that have been flagged by the opposition.

At the business advisory committee meeting, the BJP agreed to sit for extra time, and the government agreed for a discussion under 193 and calling attention notice every week. The government is resigned to the fact that in the first half of the session it would be a great relief if the vote on account is passed without a hitch.

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