The Hindu : BJP, Samata threaten counter-boycott

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Aug 01, 2003

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BJP, Samata threaten counter-boycott

By Anita Joshua

NEW DELHI JULY 31. The Opposition's boycott of the Defence Minister, George Fernandes, during question hour in the Lok Sabha today saw the BJP and Samata Party threaten similar action against the Leader of the Opposition, Sonia Gandhi, while the Samajwadi Party accused the BJP of being "hand-in-glove with the Congress" on this issue.

Since the issue came up towards the close of question hour, it did not stall the proceedings for too long, and the House returned to business with the Speaker, Manohar Joshi, evincing the hope that the stalemate would be resolved in the near future. Referring to newspaper reports of the Opposition hearing Mr. Fernandes out in the Rajya Sabha, Mr. Joshi said this issue would be sorted out soon.

Earlier, even as the entire Opposition — save the SP members — walked out the moment a question was posed to Mr. Fernandes and the Speaker went on with the proceedings, members on the NDA benches objected to the boycott.

Questioning the "dual policy" of the Congress, which allowed the Minister to speak in the Rajya Sabha while boycotting him in the Lok Sabha, Vijay Kumar Malhotra of the BJP wondered how the Congress would react to a similar boycott of Ms. Gandhi by the NDA. Prabhunath Singh (Samata Party) was quick on his feet, and asked the Speaker about the fate of last week's effort to end the boycott. "How long will this go on?" he asked, adding that, "if this continues, we will not allow Sonia Gandhi to speak". Though the Samata leader echoed Mr. Malhotra, within minutes he agreed with the Samajwadi Party leader, Mulayam Singh Yadav's contention that the BJP was "conspiring" with the Congress to ensure that the boycott continued. "Had the BJP been sincere in its efforts to end the boycott, it would have ended by now,'' he said.

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