The government on Wednesday stumped the Opposition by listing the nuclear debate in the Rajya Sabha for Thursday.
NEW DELHI: The government on Wednesday stumped the Opposition by listing the nuclear debate in the Rajya Sabha for Thursday.
The move comes in the wake of the logjam over the composition of a joint committee between the UPA and the Left parties on the nuclear issue. Caught unawares by the development, the NDA was left scrambling to formulate a coherent response to the issue.
The BJP is in a bind over the issue. Senior party leader and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha LK Advani was of the view that the setting up of the committee had preempted the debate.
But some other senior leaders of the party feel that shying away from a debate on such a vital issue would send the wrong signal. The BJP parliamentary party and NDA leaders will meet on Thursday morning to discuss the issue. The likelihood is that it will participate in the debate while continuing to press for the constitution of a Joint Parliamentary Committee on the subject.
Meanwhile, in an effort to break the standoff in Parliament the government on Wednesday also offered to set up a similar mechanism with the NDA to study its concerns on the nuclear issue like the one that it has with the Left parties.
The offer was made by the leader of the house in the Lok Sabha Pranab Mukherjee to Advani and Jaswant Singh at a 45-minute closed door meeting in parliament house.
The meeting was reportedly held at the initiative of Pranab Mukherjee. Mukherjee reportedly wanted a one-to-one meeting with Advani but agreed to the Leader of the Opposition's suggestion that they also include his Rajya Sabha counter part Jaswant Singh in the discussions.
Pranab explained to them that while the government could not agree to their twin demands of setting up a JPC or of amending the constitution to make it mandatory for all international treaties to get parliamentary approval, he offered to set up a similar mechanism with NDA.
"A JPC is not possible but we’re willing to discuss with them in the same manner as with the Left," Pranab said. Advani remained noncommittal and promised to get back to Pranab after consulting other like-minded parties.
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