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Manmohan and co set for another Opposition whack!
The United Progressive Alliance government is likely to face a tough time in Parliament which resumes on Monday after a recess with the Opposition announcing that it will protest against the JPC report on 2G spectrum allocation and the reported vetting by the law ministry of the CBI report on coal scam.
Even as the government prepared the ground for a fruitful session by reaching out to main opposition BJP on the Land Acquisition Bill, new disclosures in the media might play a spoiler for it.
BJP President Rajnath Singh expressed strong resentment over the JPC report which has given a clean chit to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram in the 2G case.
What has drawn the ire of BJP even more is the allegation in the report that the telecom policy of the erstwhile Atal Bihari Vajpayee government had led to a huge loss to the exchequer.
Left parties are also unhappy with the report and have decided to vent their displeasure in Parliament, which meets after a break of four weeks.
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Manmohan and co set for another Opposition whack!
Reports of the law ministry vetting and making changes in the CBI report -- which was to be submitted to the Supreme Court directly -- on the coal scam has also miffed both the BJP and the Left parties.
Opposition has alleged that the scam goes right up to the doorstep of the PMO and it would not let go this opportunity to corner the government.
The Manmohan Singh dispensation was looking forward to passage of some crucial Bills in the remaining part of the budget session which gets over on May 10.
A consensus has been reached between Congress and BJP on the Land Acquisition Bill and it is likely to come up for discussion and passage.
The Food Security Bill, Insurance and Pensions Bills, pending for a long time are also expected to be taken up. Government is hopeful of convincing opposition parties and getting these Bills passed.
The Left parties are opposed to these three Bills.
CPI-M leader Prakash Karat has demanded that the Land Acquisition Bill should be sent to the Standing Committee or a Joint Select Committee.
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Manmohan and co set for another Opposition whack!
BJP is opposed to increasing the FDI from the present 26 per cent to 49 per cent in the Insurance and Pensions Bills but Finance Minister P Chidambaram has exuded confidence of winning its support.
The BJP President has not said a categorical "no" to the government.
The brutal rape of a five-year-old girl in Delhi is likely to be raised in a big way, with BJP leader Sushma Swaraj demanding capital punishment in child rape cases and in cases involving brutality and barbarity while making the new anti-rape law more stringent.
The issue of exchange of enclaves with Bangladesh at the border may also come up in this session. Though initially BJP was opposed to it, there has been a rethink after a few meetings between its top leaders and the UPA ministers.
Government may also have to keep SP and BSP in good humour as it is dependent on the outside support of these two parties together accounting for 43 members in the Lok Sabha after DMK walked out of the UPA coalition.
With the Finance Bill and some Demands for Grants still to be passed, the government would not like to take any risk.
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Manmohan and co set for another Opposition whack!
SP Chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has been threatening to part ways with the UPA on one pretext or the other.
The Union Cabinet cleared Rs 4,400 crore for the backward Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh, which is facing drought.
Yadav has been demanding a special package for UP.
Former UPA ally TMC may also create uproar in both Houses on the incident involving West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at the Planning Commission here when she had to face angry protesters from the Left parties.
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Manmohan and co set for another Opposition whack!
In a bid to ensure there is no repeat of chaos of the first part of the Budget session, a distressed Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari on Sunday mooted automatic suspension of disorderly members and naming them in a House bulletin but there was no political consensus.
The moves were made by Ansari at an all-party meeting convened by him to ensure smooth proceedings in the Upper House on the eve of the resumption of the Budget session which concludes on May 10.
Ansari also mooted deferred telecast of the proceedings but it did not get the backing.
The meeting was attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and senior members from various parties.
On the last day of first phase of the Budget session on March 23, AIADMK members broke mikes and hurled papers while raising the Sri Lankan Tamils issue.