M A I N   N E W S

Price-rise stiff test for govt as House meets
Anita Katyal
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 14
The UPA government’s new team of parliamentary affairs ministers has a challenging job ahead as the ruling coalition faces the combined wrath of the opposition and its supporters for the spiralling prices of food items when the budget session of Parliament resumes tomorrow.

Price rise has become a hot political potato as the Left parties, lending critical outside support to the UPA government, the Samajwadi Party and the BJP have drawn up strategies to corner the government on the issue of inflation. The Left parties have already announced their plans to stage a protest march on price rise to Parliament House tomorrow before the commencement of the session. Similarly protests have also been planned by the members of the UNPA to draw attention to the plight of the poor man who has been badly hit by the rising prices of essential commodities.

Stating that his party will be aggressive on this issue from the opening day of the session, senior SP leader Mohan Singh also indicated their intention to move an adjournment motion on inflation which has breached a three-year high.

At the same time, the BJP is also going for the kill, realising it has an explosive issue at hand to hit out at the UPA government which finds it has lost the goodwill it had earned after the presentation of a “pro-poor budget”. The BJP’s sharpened attack against the UPA will also serve as a dress rehearsal for next month’s crucial Karnataka Assembly polls where the saffron party will make price rise the centrepiece of its election campaign. Like the Samajwadi Party, the BJP also plans to move an adjournment motion on this issue.

Indicating his party’s determination to put the government in the dock, BJP’s deputy leader in Lok Sabha V.K. Malhotra today warned it would stall proceedings if the government did not agree to a special discussion on the issue. The new parliamentary affairs minister Vyalar Ravi, stuck a reasonable note, saying the government was prepared for any discussion on inflation. “We are fully prepared for a meaningful discussion on this issue. Tomorrow we will know in what form the opposition wants it discussed,” he added.

In an effort to soften the blow, Ravi has met leader of opposition L.K. Advani and spoken to BJP’s Rajya Sabha leader Jaswant Singh and is slated to meet UPA floor leaders tomorrow morning to chalk out a strategy for floor coordination. In addition, he also plans to meet Left party leaders in the coming days in an effort to seek their cooperation in the smooth functioning of Parliament.

While price rise will dominate the second half of the budget session, the Supreme Court’s judgment allowing OBC quotas in educational institutions without a creamy layer will also figure prominently in the two houses. Several UPA alliance partners like the RJD, the DMK and the LJP are unhappy over the exclusion of the creamy layer and want the quotas to be extended to all OBCs. The pro-quota lobby, which has a strong and vocal presence in Parliament, is all set to demand that the government challenge the apex court’s order on keeping out the creamy layer.

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