Govt keen to avoid Parliament blockage

While Parliament’s winter session was a write-off due to a standoff with Opposition parties, the government has begun to worry about a repeat in the coming Budget session.

Recently promoted to cabinet rank, parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Bansal said in Chennai that the government was ready to discuss all issues in the house. And, even give priority to the telecom spectrum issue, the point at contention last time, if the opposition wanted.

But his colleague, law minister Veerappa Moily, said in Mumbai that the opposition demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee(JPC) into the spectrum issue could not be entertained, as two investigations – one by the Central Bureau of Investigation and another by Parliament’s own Public Accounts Committee – was in operation.

“If there is any stalemate, then we will have to resolve it. I only hope that the main opposition party (the Bharatiya Janata Party) will see reason and discuss the matter in the House. It is the responsibility of each one of us that Parliament functions” Bansal said.

In Chennai, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said he would have discussions with various political parties and recalled that Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar had already held discussions with the Opposition in this regard.

Bansal’s appeal came against the backdrop of reports that government might finally blink in the battle over a JPC to probe the 2G issue.

“If there is again going to be uproar in the Budget Session, beginning on February 21, the thinking in the government is possibly to accept the demand for a JPC,” a senior UPA leader, who declined to be identified, said.

A few days earlier,Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had also expressed readiness to explore “all possible approaches” to end the deadlock in Parliament.

However, there is a section in government which feels that as the Left parties are not for the kind of sustained stoppage of Parliament that took place last year — with CPI(M) leader Prakash Karat having indicated his party was not happy about it — the UPA should call the BJP-led bluff.

The BJP itself is divided over the approach it should adopt. A section believes that if the government were to fall on this issue, so be it. But these sources concede the bigger chunk of the BJP is not for elections at this point.