The Hindu : End to Opposition boycott of Fernandes in sight

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Friday, Jul 25, 2003

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End to Opposition boycott of Fernandes in sight

By Our New Delhi Bureau

NEW DELHI JULY 24. The "non recognition" of George Fernandes as Defence Minister by the Opposition virtually prevented him from making a statement on the attack by terrorists on the Army camp at Akhnoor in Jammu and Kashmir although it was listed on the business agenda for today of both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. But even as the drama of continuing "boycott" of Mr. Fernandes by the Opposition unfolded in both the Houses, there were signs that the matter may be resolved early next week.

It seems that a short duration debate on the Tehelka episode may be held in the Rajya Sabha as early as Monday on a notice given by the Congress MP, Suresh Pachauri, after which the party "could consider" lifting its boycott, at least in that House.

There were indications that the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, had been active on this front, talking to leaders and MPs of the Opposition and ruling parties, resulting in some sort of a breakthrough there. Although no one was prepared to say this on record, it seems that the Opposition had insisted, and won the point, that the response to the Rajya Sabha debate would come not from Mr. Fernandes, but the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani.

In the Lok Sabha, responding to angry demands by Samata Party and Bharatiya Janata Party MPs that the Opposition must be "disciplined" for persisting with listing questions for the Minister but refusing to ask them in the House and walking out when the Minister tries to respond, the Speaker, Manohar Joshi, said that steps were being taken and a solution would be found "by next week".

It seems that the Government would like to concede a debate on Tehelka only in the Rajya Sabha, but as yet there was no word from the Congress, the CPI(M) and other Opposition parties that they would be willing to let go a debate in the Lok Sabha as well, where they may insist on the Prime Minister responding to the debate.

The BJP has been repeatedly stating that the Opposition "cannot question the Prime Minister's prerogative to appoint any Minister of his choice," but the Opposition response has so far been that they were not questioning his constitutional prerogative but were raising issues of "political morality and propriety". The country needed to know what compelling reasons were there for the re-induction of Mr. Fernandes as Defence Minister after he resigned in the wake of the Tehelka scandal saying he would not come back unless cleared by an inquiry and the Prime Minister himself promptly accepted his resignation. "After Tehelka, we had not demanded the resignation of Mr. Fernandes but that of the Vajpayee Government," the Congress spokesperson, Jaipal Reddy said. It was the NDA ally, the Trinamool Congress leader, Mamata Banerjee, who served an ultimatum to the Prime Minister to get the resignation of the Defence Minister, Mr. Reddy recalled. He also justified the boycott ever since Mr. Fernandes' re-induction as Defence Minister as part of parliamentary tactics. At the same time the Congress pointed out that in the Budget session four months ago, and before that in the winter session last year, it had "offered" to reconsider the boycott provided the Government conceded a debate on Tehelka. "The ruling coalition has not come forth," Mr. Reddy added.

The BJP spokesperson, V.K. Malhotra, described the Opposition behaviour as amounting to "murder of democracy" and "a waste of Parliament's time and money". He was commenting on the Opposition walkout in the Lok Sabha this morning.

As soon as Mr. Fernandes rose to speak to reply to a question, the Opposition walked out, leading to strong demands from Samata and BJP MPs that the Speaker must "discipline" the Opposition.

However, the bottom line is that having made its point the Opposition is now keen on ending this impasse. "There are a number of important issues related to Defence — unspent money, falling MIGs and Jaguars, terrorist attacks on Army camps — we want answers, we do want to raise these issues," some Congress MPs conceded. But they expect the Government to concede a debate on Tehelka and explain why Mr. Fernandes was re-inducted when the Phukan Commission is yet to complete its inquiry. "As Minister he is in a position to sabotage the inquiry," the Congress said.

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