The Hindu : BJP, Cong. rally support ahead of budget session

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Feb 17, 2003

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BJP, Cong. rally support ahead of budget session

By Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI FEB. 16. There was hectic political activity here today ahead of the budget session of Parliament opening tomorrow. And with a number of States going to the polls — four later this month and five at the end of the year — both the major political groups, one led by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the other by the Congress, are trying hard to shore up support.

The Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, began his day early meeting the Telugu Desam Party chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Chandrababu Naidu, and ended it late with a dinner meeting with his partners in the National Democratic Alliance.

The Leader of the Opposition, Sonia Gandhi, tried to warm up her frosty relations with the leaders of some secular parties by bringing them around her dinner table at 10, Janpath, while the four Left parties held a coordination committee meeting and their leaders later attended the dinner hosted by Ms. Gandhi.

The Opposition parties were attempting to get their act together and show that they were willing and able to coordinate their activities in relation to the parliamentary session ahead — some of them have publicly stated that after the BJP's Hindutva show in Gujarat, it has become all the more urgent for the secular parties to come together and confront the communal threat.

A heavy dose of Government business will form a major portion of the pre-recess budget session — the President's address to the joint session on Monday, the Railway Budget, the Economic Survey, the Union Budget and the debate on the motion of thanks to the President. And the new Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj, has promised to make one more serious attempt to get a consensus on the women's reservation bill by asking the Prime Minister to call an all-party meeting of leaders and by individually contacting the leaders of the major parties.

However, the Ayodhya issue has begun to loom large over the session. The Supreme Court is hearing the Government petition on February 21, and a 3-day `dharam sansad' organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad will begin its deliberations the following day amid publicly issued threats that if the Government-acquired land is not handed over to the VHP-controlled Ram Janmabhoomi trust, the organisation will start an agitation.

It is also known that the top leadership of the BJP and the Government have been promising their mentors in the RSS that if the court were to give the Government some breathing space, it would do the needful — that is, transfer the acquired Ayodhya land to the trust.

Thus, the issue is worrying not only the Opposition parties but also the NDA partners who would prefer not to have to tax their secular conscience too much. The Left parties are, in fact, thinking of an adjournment motion on the issue, but some other Opposition parties may prefer to wait and see what the apex court has to say before making their move.

With nine Assembly elections due this year and the Lok Sabha next year, the political atmosphere is edgy. Much could happen between now and the next joint session at the start of the next budget session.

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