M A I N   N E W S

PM: govt ready to discuss Ayodhya
Tribune News Service and PTI

New Delhi, February 16
In a conciliatory tone, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee tonight said his government was prepared to discuss all issues, including Ayodhya, in Parliament during the Budget session commencing tomorrow and sought constructive cooperation from the Opposition but the ruling NDA was also prepared to face the Opposition onslaught.

“We are ready to discuss all issues in Parliament and we seek the cooperation of the Opposition which, we hope, will adopt a positive and constructive approach to enable us to meet the aspirations of the people,” he told the meeting of the NDA Coordination Committee at his residence.

Briefing reporters after the hour-long meeting, NDA convener George Fernandes and BJP leader V.K. Malhotra said the meeting discussed various issues which the ruling alliance would raise to counter the Opposition.

Raising the Ayodhya issue, Mr C. Krishnan of the MDMK sought to know why the government had gone to court on the Ayodhya issue to which Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani said it was intended to resolve the issue as early as possible.

Mr Fernandes said it arose out of an all-party meeting last year where a consensus was reached that the issue should be resolved at the earliest possible through court.

Elaborating on it, Mr Advani said what the government had done was in keeping with the NDA Agenda for Governance and added that keeping it in abeyance for long was not in the interests of the country or for that matter any community.

In an apparent attempt to deflect attention from Ayodhya, the NDA plans to counter the Opposition by raising the frequent violence in Bihar and West Bengal.

“The NDA endorsed the decision to launch a nationwide campaign to highlight the situation in Bihar where innocent people were being killed in fake encounters,” Mr Fernandes said, adding that his Samata Party colleague Nitish Kumar gave a detailed account of the latest incidents in the state.

Attacking the Congress and Left parties for their support to the RJD government in Bihar, he said, “If they want to save the state from the ongoing violence, they must come out of the government and create a new situation,” Mr Fernandes said.

Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee focused attention on “increasing” incidents of violence, rape and murder in West Bengal and favoured a Bihar-like campaign in the state.

Raising the arrest of MDMK leader Vaiko under POTA, Union Minister and DMK leader T R Baalu sought to know what steps the Centre was taking to get Vaiko released from jail.

Mr Baalu was told that a case was pending in the court and when the Centre received a notice, it would present its views, Mr Fernandes said.

“He (Baalu) was told that a case was pending in court and certain aspects of the law had been challenged and when the Central government gets the notice, all matters would be placed before the court,” the NDA convener said, adding that he had met Vaiko twice and the MDMK leader did not want the Centre to directly or otherwise work for his release.

Former Punjab Chief Minister and Akali Dal leader Parkash Singh Badal alleged that the Punjab Government was harassing his party workers which was condemned by the NDA, Mr Fernandes said.

External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha indicated that in the eventuality of a war in Iraq, it could affect the nation’s economy and lead to further escalation in the price of oil.

The meeting endorsed the government’s stand on Iraq and the steps taken by it to protect the life of Indians residing in the region.

Mr P.C. Thomas of the Kerala Congress highlighted the plight of farmers.

The meeting was attended by BJP President M Venkaiah Naidu, Union Ministers Jaswant Singh, Yashwant Sinha, and Sushma Swaraj, BJD leader Arjun Charan Sethi, Samata Party leader Nitish Kumar, Chandra Kant Khaire (Shiv Sena), Mamata Banerjee (Trinamool), T. Gyamptso (Sikkim Democratic Party), Omar Abdullah (National Conference) Ramadoss (PMK) and Sushil Indora (INLD)

Govt communalising atmosphere: Left

New Delhi, February 16
The Left parties today accused the government of attempting to “communalise the atmosphere” ahead of the Assembly poll in four states by “surreptitiously” moving the Supreme Court to help the VHP-RSS begin the temple construction in Ayodhya.

This is a “cynical attempt by the government to communalise the atmosphere every time elections are round the corner by legitimising the VHP’s efforts to whip up emotion,” said the Left parties in a joint statement after their meeting on the eve of the Budget session of Parliament.

Charging the government with bypassing Parliament, which has enacted the law to take over the land in and around the disputed site at Ayodhya, the Left parties said they would try and coordinate with all secular parties to oppose this “diabolical move of the government.”

The parties protested against the manner in which the government was going ahead with the privatisation of the BPCL and HPCL and sought to highlight the “ever growing” opposition to this move which was “clearly against the nation’s strategic interest and intended to benefit certain corporates”.

Expressing concern over the crash in the price of agriculture commodities, they said agricultural labour was continuing to be abysmal without a comprehensive legislation to protect their interest.

Hitting out at the government’s “hypocritical attitude” in pursuing labour reforms, the Left parties said in spite of a specific assurance to the Indian Labour Conference that the trade unions would be consulted over the recommendations of the Second Labour Commission and the government would refer to Parliament its comprehensive views on the commission’s report, nothing had been done.

“Instead, the Prime Minister downwards, the government is echoing the unilateral demand of the employers of instituting a regime of ‘hire and fire’”, they said, adding that they would raise their voice against this “sinister approach” towards labour which was facing a grim situation.

They said the condition of the state finances was in a bad shape and almost all states had been demanding the formulation of a Central package to help them out.

The Left parties proposed to bring a resolution in Parliament to make the government more pro-active towards the unilateral attempt by the USA to foist a war against Iraq. PTI