The Hindu : Sayeed may help end deadlock

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 22, 2002

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Sayeed may help end deadlock

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI APRIL 21. With further outbreak of violence in Gujarat, the deadlock in Parliament on the issue is unlikely to be resolved shortly. Both the Government and the Opposition have not given an indication of backing down from the positions.

The stalemate is likely to continue for another two days as the Deputy Speaker, P.M. Sayeed, is inclined to wait for both the Government and the Opposition to come to an agreement on the issue. Though no formal meetings have been scheduled for tomorrow, it is reliably learnt that Mr. Sayeed may informally sound both the sides on the likelihood of a possible resolution.

Sources in the Lok Sabha secretariat maintain that if the standoff continues, the Deputy Speaker may intervene and give his ruling in the matter. Senior politicians believe that a breakthrough if and when it comes about will be through the Deputy Speaker's intervention. Though the meeting of leaders summoned by him on Friday failed to resolve the deadlock, both the sides have apparently agreed to leave the decision to him. Mr. Sayeed has so far been tight-lipped but he is keen on ending the logjam and might give his ruling tomorrow.

Though Mr. Sayeed was not available for comment, sources suggest that he has been consulting constitutional experts. The Deputy Speaker may adopt the middle path by suggesting the rewording of the resolution moved by the Opposition at the same time allowing a discussion under Rule 184.

This would meet the demand of both the sides. The Opposition is insisting on a discussion and vote on the issue. The presiding officer has the powers to suggest a change in the wording of the resolution, and his decision on the rule under which a discussion should be held is final. "Even if the resolution is reformulated, nothing prevents members from speaking on the developments in Gujarat or even on Narendra Modi''.

NCP to vote against NDA

PTI reports from Kolkata:

The Nationalist Congress Party today said that it would vote against the NDA Government on any motion moved in Parliament to uphold secularism.

``The NCP is a secular party and we will go with any motion which tries to protect the country's secular fabric,'' the NCP general secretary and former Lok Sabha Speaker, P.A. Sangma, told newspersons here.

``The minorities are suffering from a sense of insecurity,'' Mr. Sangma said earlier while participating in a State-level conference organised by his party as part of its observance of Communal Amity Day.

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