No end in sight to Parliament deadlock, all-party meeting tomorrow

PTI

New Delhi, 29 November 2010: The deadlock in Parliament showed no signs of ending on with both the government and the Opposition firmly sticking to their positions on Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into 2G scam and a bid to break it will be made on Tuesday at an all-party meeting convened by Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar.

As the 12th consecutive working day of Parliament was wasted because of the impasse, the Congress held a luncheon meeting with the United Progressive Alliance partners to device a common strategy in view of some of the constituents like the Trinamool Congress and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam initially not being averse to a JPC probe.

This assumed significance as the Speaker has called an all-party meeting on Tuesday to end the logjam in Parliament.

At the nearly two-hour meeting, all the UPA allies, including the TMC and the DMK, expressed their support to the government’s position of ‘no JPC’

After the meeting, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee again appealed to the opposition to give up its demand for a JPC probe.

“Yesterday I made an appeal to different political parties including L.K. Advani and Leader of the Opposition (in the Lok Sabha)… I am renewing my appeal to the Opposition,” he said.

Agriculture Minister and Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar said the UPA constituents decided on a “collective approach” to the issue.

The TMC, which had earlier said that it was not opposed to a JPC probe if it was needed to run the House, also backed the government’s firm stand on the issue.

National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah said, “We will remain united in our stand against a JPC.”

DMK leader Tiruchi Siva, whose party had earlier given indications that it was not averse to a JPC, said it backed the government’s position of “no JPC“.

The Bharatiya Janata Party was quick to reject the appeal. “We are sticking to our demand for a JPC. Our demand is based on logical and justifiable reasons,” BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said.

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said in Bhopal that the BJP “cannot give up” the JPC demand and wondered why the government was not ordering it.

She noted that JPCs had been set up on four earlier occasions — twice during Congress rule when the BJP asked and twice during the National Democratic Alliance rule when the Congress demanded.

Meanwhile, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, while expressing government’s readiness to have an extensive debate on the 2G issue, said the BJP’s demand for a JPC probe was “politically motivated” and accused the party of trying to mislead the people.

The BJP was acting on “RSS direction” and other parties were not as keen as the BJP for a JPC probe, he said.

“Opposition is trying to mislead the people. Joint Parliamentary Committee would not be able to achieve any result as parties are sharply divided on political lines and atmosphere is surcharged,” he said.

The government feels it was only the BJP, which was persisting on the JPC issue and paralysing Parliament.

“While other opposition parties may be supporting such a probe, they are not with the BJP in disrupting Parliament’s functioning. The Left is also seeking JPC but it is not joining the BJP in disrupting the House. The Bahujan Samaj Party members also do not join them when they go into the well protesting on the issue,” a Union Minister said.

Notwithstanding the government’s claim, leaders of the non-BJP opposition parties, including the Left, on Monday decided to take the demand for JPC probe to the President on Tuesday with a request that the government be directed to accept the JPC demand.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the four Left parties, the Telugu Desam Party, the Biju Janata Dal and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in New Delhi amid their concern over the continued disruption of proceedings in Parliament.

The Left parties have been insisting on a JPC probe into the spectrum allocation issue, saying no other form of enquiry into the “mega scam which has caused the exchequer over Rs. 1.76 lakh crore” would suffice.

The Left and other non-BJP Opposition parties have put the onus of proper functioning of the House on the government, saying it was the ruling coalition’s responsibility to restore order by accepting the JPC demand.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has been in talks with Left leaders, including Sitaram Yechury and Gurudas Dasgupta, to find a way to resolve the continued impasse in Parliament.