BJP chalks out protest plan till Budget Session
Sansad to sadak to sansad. That's the BJP-led NDA's strategy till February, when the Budget Session begins. It wants to show it's still firm on pursuing the demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) into the 2G Spectrum scam.
Sansad to sadak to sansad.
That's the BJP-led NDA's strategy till February, when the Budget Session begins. It wants to show it's still firm on pursuing the demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) into the 2G Spectrum scam.
The Opposition plans to hit the streets over next two months to highlight the scam after a "successful strategy" in Parliament, and then return to press its JPC demand in the budget session.
But senior BJP leaders say they are counting on a "lot of events" to unfold within the government and outside between now and February.
Even as Sonia Gandhi and the government singled out the BJP for "paralysing" Parliament, L.K. Advani put up a defence of the opposition's stalling tactics. "Sometimes, business not proceeding also yields results," he told reporters.
While NDA's convenor Sharad Yadav is to formally announce the alliance's plans on Tuesday, NDA MPs from both Houses held a held a demonstration in front of Mahatma Gandhi's statue in the Parliament House complex against the government's refusal to accept their demand for a JPC probe in the 2-G scam.
Besides Advani, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, her counterpart in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, Sharad Yadav, and MPs from Shiv Sena and Shiromani Akali Dal stood with other MPs holding placards accusing the UPA of corruption.
"The government is responsible for the logjam. It is because of the government's adamance that this situation prevails in Parliament," said Swaraj.
"We are taking this fight against corruption to the people. We will be hitting the roads soon."
Rejecting Sonia Gandhi's charge, Swaraj said, "only the government is responsible for the loss (due to disruption of Parliament). The stubborn attitude of the government in not accepting our demand shows that the government has a lot to hide."
As for charge against the BJP ministry in Karnataka, senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu said, "we will set up a JPC-type panel if the Congress makes a demand there."