Published: Wednesday, Sep 1, 2010, 2:23 IST
By Harish Gupta | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_arun-jaitley-sushma-swaraj-differences-put-government-in-a-fix_1431839
The lack of coordination in BJP came to the fore when leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley stoutly opposed on Tuesday the very same bills opposition leader in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj had earlier supported.
After the passage of the prevention of torture bill piloted by home minister P Chidambaram and the educational tribunal bill piloted by HRD minister Kapil Sibal in Lok Sabha, the UPA government had expected a smooth sailing in Rajya Sabha as well and had even issued a whip to its MPs.
But both bills met with stiff resistance from Jaitley and the government was forced to send the prevention of torture bill to a select committee and the educational tribunal bill back to a parliament standing committee.
The opposition was particularly harsh on Sibal, who has rejected all the 23 suggestions made by the standing committee.
Asked if BJP did not have a core committee for coordination in both Houses of parliament, a party leader said, “We have a bills committee comprising leaders from both Houses. However, no one took the torture bill draft seriously because it was based on a UN charter and 147 countries had already supported it. It was, therefore, passed virtually without a discussion in Lok Sabha in less than 60 minutes.”
BJP says the bill is loaded in favour of criminals and is against police, while the Left rubbished it saying, “We want intention word to go and there should be no sanction to prosecute police officers found guilty of torture.”
Swaraj and Jaitley will clear the air at a joint press conference on Wednesday.
