Published: Friday, Jul 30, 2010, 1:20 IST
By Harish Gupta | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_opposition-parties-can-t-agree-on-cornering-govt-unitedly_1416385
NDA convener Sharad Yadav may have taken a swipe at Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar for rejecting the adjournment motion on price rise, but his admission about having “sleepless nights” showed where his real worries lay.
Yadav had managed to unite the entire opposition for the Bharat Bandh on July 5, but is losing sleep because of his inability to get the opposition to corner the government on price rise.
The Left parties have made it clear they will not do business with the BJP and would like to see Question Hour restored.
The Left conveyed its decision to leaders from the NDA, the Samajwadi Party and Rastriya Janata Dal about its unwillingness to jointly move an adjournment motion.
So keen was the Left not to associate itself with anybody else that it kept the Samajwadi Party at bay this morning when they assembled for a dharna inside parliament premises.
When Communist Party of India leader D Raja reached parliament with the contingent at 10.45 am for a dharna, he found that the place had already been occupied by Mulayam Singh Yadav and other SP leaders.
Raja sought the advice of Sitaram Yechury and Gurudas Dasgupta and sat on a dharna at a different place, thereby refusing to join hands with the Samajwadi Party.
On the price rise issue, the Left has formed a front comprising Telegu Desam Party, All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Biju Janata Dal and Janata Dal (secular), but the Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal are angling for a slot on that forum. The Left doesn’t want this, which is why it did not let Lalu Prasad Yadav come around. The absence of Lok Janshakti Party’s Ram Vilas Paswan was also noticed by many.
Prithviraj Chavan, minister of state in the Prime Minister’s Office also indicated that except for the Civil Nuclear Liability Bill and a couple of other things, there isn’t much on the plate in terms of legislative business. Therefore, if the Opposition wants to disrupt Parliament and the BJP and the Left want to be seen together, let them be to their own peril.
The government was so adamant, that at the business advisory committee meeting that it did not agree to a joint resolution of the entire house calling upon the government to bring down prices. The government said that plea can be considered only if the opposition allows the restoration of Question Hour first.
As NDA convener, Sharad Yadav knows more than anybody else that Opposition unity cannot be sustained for long and this was the pain he was expressing in the House. He wanted the Speaker to give him a face-saver.
