Bills may get Ordinance push

The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, left without much room for maneuver in the face of an unrelenting Opposition, is likely to adopt the Ordinance route to bring in its crucial land and food Bills.

After the indictment by the Supreme Court today, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) made it clear that the party would boycott all meetings called by the Lok Sabha Speaker and Parliamentary affairs minister Kamal Nath. In such a situation, sources within the government have indicated, Parliament may be adjourned sine die this week itself.

Opposition leader Sushma Swaraj hauled up the government in her address in the Lok Sabha, after which BJP staged a walkout.

"There is a situation of total breakdown and the government is responsible for it," Swaraj said.

Referring to the Supreme Court's comment, Congress General Secretary Janardhan Dwivedi said: "Of course, it is not a pleasant comment for any dispensation, for any composition of the government."

For UPA, which had placed all its bets on getting the Land Bill and the Food Bill cleared, the present scenario offers no prospect of any of these Bills making it through Parliament.

"We still can bring them in through an Ordinance," says a senior Cabinet minister, indicating that at any cost, these legislations will be in place albeit through a Presidential Ordinance once the Parliament is not in session.