Speaker caught in crossfire

By Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI, APRIL 18. As the war of nerves between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party escalated today, there was no certainty about what may happen in Parliament tomorrow or the day after, or even whether Parliament would complete the rest of the budget session till May 11 or if the session's span would be cut short.

While the Congress stuck to its position that it would not budge from its ``most reasonable demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee'' going into the Tehelka scandal, the BJP virtually threatened to ``push through'' the Finance Bill forcibly and then get the House adjourned sine die only to meet for the monsoon session in July, having withdrawn its earlier offer of ``any type of inquiry the Opposition wanted''.

After the Houses adjourned for the day, the Speaker, Mr. G.M.C. Balayogi, made one more valiant effort to make the warring parties see sense. At a meeting of party leaders, he asked them to coolly reconsider what their obstinacy was leading to, and come back tomorrow. He is expected to wait at least until tomorrow to see if there is a change of stance before deciding on anything drastic.

It appears the Speaker is not enamoured of either option the BJP has placed before him unless absolutely unavoidable, and may not like to push through the budget tomorrow or the day after.

Mahajan's 'closed mind'

The key problem has been created by the Government refusing to consider a JPC into the Tehelka disclosures - Mr. Pramod Mahajan, Parliamentary Affairs Minister, was reported to have said at the meeting that he ``did not have an open mind'' on this issue at all, provoking some other leaders to suggest that he learn to keep an open mind. Instead, he offered a JPC on the stock market scandal. He also said a JPC could not be considered on the Tehelka issue as a judicial commission had already been set up.

But the view of some Opposition parties was that the Government could always do it (presumably by winding up the judicial commission) or that the judicial commission and the JPC could work simultaneously, a view articulated by Mr. Madhavrao Scindia, who represented the Congress at the Speaker's meeting. Mr. Scindia was also critical of the ``limited terms of reference'' of the judicial commission, which could only mean a whitewash of the entire sordid affair.

Mr. Scindia emphasised that the Congress had ``reconsidered'' its earlier stand and shown ``reasonableness'' by demanding a JPC, which the Government had itself offered. This had been done ``in the interest of smooth functioning of Parliament'' and the onus was now on the Government. Previous Congress governments had conceded JPCs without a debate, as after the Harshad Mehta scam. (It was obvious that no JPC would ever be conceded if it was to be decided on the basis of consensus or majority view as all governments have a majority.)

The Congress found support in the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Indian Union Muslim League. The RJD pointed out that often the Government had meted out punishment first (Mr. Laloo Prasad Yadav had been arrested and put jailed before being found guilty of any offence) before completing investigations.

BJP issues whip

At a briefing before the Speaker's meeting, the BJP spokesperson, Mr. Vijay Kumar Malhotra, lashed out at the Congress for obstructing the functioning of the House and said that there were only two options before the Government - suspend the Congress MPs and pass the budget in an orderly fashion, or push the budget through forcibly in the next few days and adjourn the House sine die. A two-line whip has been issued by the party to all MPs for April 19, 20 and 23 - suggesting that the party may like to push through the Finance Bill latest by Monday.

Although it was obvious that both suspending members and adjourning the House sine die were the Speaker's prerogatives, Mr. Malhotra did not shy away from presuming that the Speaker would go along. Another factor that has distracted from the main issue on hand is the impatience some parties have demonstrated with the budget session which is preventing them from paying attention to the campaign needs of the Assembly elections.

The Samajwadi Party and the Left want another recess till May 10, a suggestion already rejected by the Congress. And the Government view is that the House need not meet till July once the Finance Bill is through.

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