|
|
|
|
|
Govt set to clear RS hurdle after Maya’s rescue act New Delhi, December 6 With the help of 15 BSP MPs, the ruling coalition, which is in a minority in the Upper House, can now be rest assured of comfortably crossing the halfway mark in the 244-member House since the nine Samajwadi Party MPs are expected to abstain during voting. Even as Mulayam Singh’s party made clear its opposition to the issue, his MPs will stage a walkout when the government puts to test the contentious economic reform in the Upper House. With the BSP giving the government additional support and SP members walking out, the result of voting is more or less a foregone conclusion. Even though the topic of the debate was FDI in retail, the BSP chief utilised the major part of the time allocated to her in attacking Sushma Swaraj, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, and settling score with the BJP, her erstwhile coalition partner in the UP Government. Taking potshots at Sushma over her claim that BSP abstained from voting on the FDI issue in the Lok Sabha yesterday because of CBI pressure, Mayawati said that her party decided to back the government after taking into consideration the fact that FDI in retail would not be forced upon states. Reacting sharply to the senior BJP leader’s remarks that her party was helping the government under pressure, she said the main opposition party was levelling such allegations after it found out that “grapes were sour” and its game plan did not succeed. While BSP and BJP members engaged in a bitter war of words over Mayawati’s vociferous attack against Sushma, smiles on the faces of leaders on treasury benches said it all, reflecting satisfaction over well-executed floor management despite difficult circumstances in the Upper House. Even while the BJP demanded the remarks to be expunged, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath, springing to Mayawati’s defence, maintained that the use of the phrase “sour grapes” was not unparliamentary. Thereafter it was Mayawati all the way. The BSP supremo said she was not afraid of the CBI. Mayawati said the CBI was directed to investigate the Taj corridor and disproportionate assets cases after her refusal to fight the 2004 General Election along with the BJP. “We could form government with the BJP but cannot compromise ideology and contest election with them,” she declared.Mayawati said the BSP had wanted to boycott voting in the Rajya Sabha but this would have led to helping “communal forces” and giving the Opposition space for “politicising” their victory. CPM leader Sitaram Yechury, who slammed the UPA's move to bring FDI in retail, said the debate was not about communalism and secularism. “If this was to be of any benefit to the people and the economy, we would have supported it. But this is not the case,” he said. The Congress and its allies had yesterday defeated the Opposition-backed motion over FDI in multi-brand retail in the Lok Sabha. The Opposition dismissed the government's victory in the Lower House, alleging that it misused enforcement agencies like the CBI to intimidate the SP and the BSP to win votes. upa assured of easy Passage
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
