Sonia, PM to face Left wrath in Parliament

Ruling party is expecting a tough time from friends and foes alike.

Parliament on Thursday will begin its long Budget Session during which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi are expected to face plenty of fire from friends and foes alike.

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For once, it will not just be the Opposition that will try to undermine the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. The Left and the Samajwadi Party, whose ties with the Congress have always been strained, are also breathing fire.

Ruling party leaders admit they are expecting a tough time.

India's decision to vote with the West twice in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to refer Iran's nuclear programme to the UN Security Council, the row over New Delhi's civilian nuclear pact with Washington, the de-freezing of controversial Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi's London bank accounts as well as privatisation of Delhi and Mumbai airports are all expected to generate heat in both houses of Parliament.

During the two-month budget session - with a month-long recess in between - Finance Minister P Chidambaram will present the 2006-07 fiscal budget on February 28. The railway budget and the economic survey - the Government's performance on the economy - will precede that.

President APJ Abdul Kalam will address a joint session of parliament Thursday, and both houses will then debate and vote on the speech in the following days.

The main Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said it anticipated plenty of fireworks.

"It will be a stormy session. We will be putting the Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi in the dock over issues like Iran and Indo-US nuclear agreement and its green signal to defreeze Quattrocchi's accounts," deputy leader of BJP in Lok Sabha VK Malhotra said.

The Government has been severely rapped for its decision on the Quattrocchi accounts, into which alleged bribes were deposited to secure a 1986 Indian Army order of howitzer guns from Sweden's Bofors company.

Manmohan Singh maintains that the Central Bureau of Investigation that investigated the Bofors case took the decision on permitting the accounts to be revived.

The Opposition alleges the move was done at the behest of Gandhi, who is described as a friend of the Italian man.

The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance has given notice to Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee for discussions on 18 issues including inflation, the Supreme Court criticism of the Government's decision to dissolve the Bihar assembly and foreign policy.

Malhotra said the Opposition would seek an explanation from the Prime Minister over the perceived threat to India's nuclear programme, particularly in the context of Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar's views against opening the fast breeder reactors to international inspections.

"We will also raise the issue of Election Commissioner Navin Chawla," the BJP leader said, referring to allegations that Chawla accepted money from local area development funds of MPs to run his charitable trusts.

Although the Left has indicated that it would not pull down the government, it has vowed to bring the government "to its knees" on Iran.

"We have already made it clear that we would fight the government both in parliament and outside on issues where we have differences and where the Government has deviated from the common minimum programme," CPI-M leader Nilotpal Basu, a Rajya Sabha MP said.

"The issues include India's stance on Iran nuclear issue, foreign direct investment in the retail sector and privatisation of Delhi and Mumbai airports," he said.

While the Samajwadi Party has threatened to move a no-confidence motion on the Iran issue, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-led Left Front are more guarded.

The Government says the Prime Minister will make a statement on the Indo-US nuclear agreement, which will "address all the concerns expressed by political parties and intellectuals".

"The Prime Minister's statement on the Iran nuclear issue would clarify our stance on the issue," a minister said.

But that may not be enough to placate a sulking Left and the real opposition.