Law Minister Ashwini Kumar, and the Chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on spectrum allocations P.C. Chacko, will be responsible if the second part of the Budget session fails to transact much legislative business.
The veteran Congress leaders have provided much needed ammunition to the Opposition, which was desperate to find a reason to stall Parliament. Though backroom dialogues are on between the BJP and the Congress, it is believed that at least the first week of the session, beginning on Monday, will be wasted.
The key reasons are Kumar’s decision to vet a Central Bureau of Investigation report on the coal scam and Chacko’s draft report on spectrum allocation, which criticised former Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee and absolved Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P. Chidambaram.
The Opposition has demanded Kumar’s resignation, while they want to know from Chacko how the JPC report was leaked to the media.
NDA working chairman L.K. Advani has said that the Opposition will seek Kumar’s resignation in Parliament on the first day of the session. The NDA leadership is meeting other parties to garner support for their demand that the JPC draft report must be rejected by the panel.
The Government was all prepared to push the Food Security Bill, Land Acquisition, Resettlement and Rehabilitation Bill and the Lokpal Bill along with a number of other pro-reform legislation during the session.
Two all-party meetings were held on the Land Bill. Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh’s manoeuvring strategies resulted in a near-unanimity that the Bill could be considered during the Budget session. Now, with these new developments, that unanimity may not work on the floor of the House.
The BJP is now in no mood to listen. The party is disturbed at the criticism levelled against Vajpayee, who has not been keeping well for some time. Kumar’s act seems to have proved the BJP’s charge that the Centre is using the CBI for political benefits.
Congress leaders claim that the Food Security Bill, a pet legislation of the party President Sonia Gandhi, is their “first priority.” Food Minister K.V. Thomas has already held a number of informal meetings with various leaders. The Bill’s fate is also now hanging in balance.
A section of Congress’s floor managers is critical of Kumar and Chacko for “breaking” the party’s attempts to find peace with the Opposition.
However, they are hopeful that the impasse may not last beyond the first week.
“We may able to push Food Bill, Land Bill and the Lokpal Bill. Everything else is a bonus,” quipped a Minister.
It’s not just BJP that will trouble the Government. Trinamool Congress has decided to protest during the session against the “step-motherly” attitude of the Centre against West Bengal. Samajwadi Party’s Mulayam Singh Yadav has demanded special package for Uttar Pradesh. The DMK is unhappy that the JPC did not hear former Telecom Minister A. Raja’s version.
With the Karnataka election looming, the Congress will have to struggle to buy peace during the Budget session.