National
POTO is of national interest: BJP
By Our Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI, DEC. 5. The Bharatiya Janata Party today tried its best to project the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance (POTO) issue as one of ``national interest'' and a ``resolve to fight terrorism'' even as it strongly attacked the Congress for taking a decision to vote against the Bill to replace it.
The stage seems set for the BJP to try and use the issue as a political one during the coming Assembly elections.
Although it was conceded that the Bill to replace the Ordinance would most likely be defeated in the Rajya Sabha, the party expressed its resolve to place it before Parliament.
Mr. Vijay Kumar Malhotra, BJP spokesperson, said he could not say what the Government strategy would be if the Bill is defeated in the Upper House, which is most likely, but the ``BJP favoured calling a joint session to approve the Bill.''
Charging the Congress with ``sacrificing national interest'' in favour of ``vote-bank politics'', Mr. Malhotra simply refused to acknowledge that there were many eminent non- political personalities who had opposed POTO. Were they all anti- national? To this, his response was that most of them would support the Ordinance with amendments.
The POTO Bill is being presented by the BJP as indicative of the ``national resolve to fight terrorism, a fight which cannot be held to ransom by those who have adopted obstructionist and vote-bank politics,'' Mr. Malhotra said. The Bill will be introduced, the political minority cannot be allowed to exercise a veto, he emphasised.
Although the Prime Minister himself has said in Parliament that the Government had failed to try and build a consensus on the issue before promulgating POTO, Mr. Malhotra continued to praise the BJP-led Government's attempts to arrive at a consensus.
Opposition to the POTO from the CPI(M) and the Samajwadi Party (SP) did not seem to bother the BJP as much as that that from the Congress. The reason given was that the CPI(M) and the SP had opposed it from the start but the Government had hoped to get the Congress support.
To be introduced in LS next week
By Our Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI DEC. 5.The controversial Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance (POTO) will be introduced in the Lok Sabha next Wednesday. The Business Advisory Committee (BAC) has allotted two days for the discussion and it will be put to vote on December 13.
The re-induction of Mr. George Fernandes and the Government's handling of the Tehelka investigations, the subject of much controversy in recent days, will come up for discussion in the Lok Sabha on December 18 & 19.
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