The Opposition will use DNA's report to grill the government on its failure to prevent 11/7 despite having prior information.
The Opposition will use DNA’s report to grill the government on its failure to prevent 11/7 despite having prior information.
NEW DELHI: The ripples from the shockwaves of the July 11 serial blasts will rock Parliament when it opens today for the monsoon session.
The Opposition is sharpening its rhetoric to launch an attack on the government for “its failure to tackle terrorism”. The treasury benches, too, are limbering up to parry the blows. “We are not afraid of a debate on any issue,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told reporters on Sunday.
Leader of the Opposition LK Advani has moved an adjournment motion demanding stoppage of all business to grill the government on the security environment in the country. Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee has indicated that the motion will be accepted for debate in the morning.
The opposition is likely to use DNA’s front page report on Saturday suggesting that the government had intelligence warnings about the impending terror strikes 40 days ahead of the act but failed to prevent it.
The main opposition BJP will demand discussion on 62 issues and move 18 calling attention motions but will focus on its two main issues — the blasts and price rise. Turn to p16
Senior party MPs will nail the government on its “perceived softness” against terrorism and how this has boosted the morale of terrorist groups and extremist outfits such as SIMI and the Naxals.
The verbal jousting started even before the session. Responding to former external affairs minister Jaswant Singh’s charge against an unnamed official of the PMO during PV Narasimha Rao’s days of leaking India’s nuclear secrets to the US, the Prime Minister said he should have had the courage and decency to name the official.
But at least on one issue, the Office of Profit Bill, there seems to be a convergence of interests of the government and the Opposition. A government source said the Prime Minister is inclined to move a second bill on the subject to amend the Constitution to accommodate the suggestions made by President APJ Abdul Kalam and the demands of the Opposition.
The message was carried to the Opposition camp on Sunday evening by three senior government leaders - Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi and his deputy Suresh Pachauri - when, in an unprecedented move, they met at a dinner hosted by Advani at his 30, Prithviraj Road, residence. They were joined by Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Jaswant Singh and BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and VK Malhotra.
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