Cong top brass meets ahead of Budget Session

The Congress core group, headed by Congress President Sonia Gandhi, met on Wednesday to chalk out a strategy for the session

The UPA-II is readying itself for a tumultuous Budget session of Parliament, which begins tomorrow, as the Opposition is all set to raise a number of issues to put the government on the backfoot.

Speaking after the all-party meeting convened by Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed hope that all parties would work towards making this a “fruitful session.”

The Congress core group, headed by Congress President Sonia Gandhi, met earlier on Wednesday to chalk out a strategy for the session.

Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman P J Kurien wrote to members of the Upper House stating that the charges of rape against him were false. The Left parties and the Opposition have been demanding Kurien’s resignation on the issue.

Kamal Nath has made it clear there would be no discussion on the Kurien issue, as the Supreme Court had exonerated him and, therefore, there was no ground to further rake up the issue.

“We will not agree to hold a discussion in any House of Parliament on a subject of state politics,” said Nath.

With the Opposition likely to create an uproar over the alleged kickbacks in the Italian helicopter deal, the Congress-led UPA sounded confident it would be ready to tackle the issue.

Nath reiterated “the government wants a completely transparent and very incisive probe in the VVIP chopper deal.” Yesterday, Nath had even offered to go in for a joint parliamentary committee probe on the issue.

“I have told all political parties that the government is for an inquiry on the helicopter issue because this is not just an issue concerning corruption. This is an investigation carried out overseas which is a slur on India,” Nath said.

Sources confirmed that in any case, no work was likely to be transacted this week at least, with the President’s address on the first day, followed by obituary references. No work would happen on Friday as it is being mainly devoted to private members’ Bills.

Next week will be devoted to the Rail Budget on Tuesday, followed by the Union Budget on February 28.