NEW DELHI: Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi indicated here on Tuesday that the United Progressive Alliance was more than ready to face the Opposition onslaught, post-Bihar results, in the winter session of Parliament starting on Wednesday.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, which has given more than 40 notices for raising various issues, held a strategy meeting at the house of the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Leader of the Opposition L.K. Advani and parliamentary party office-bearers attended. On Wednesday morning the full parliamentary party will meet and this exercise will be followed by a meeting of the National Democratic Alliance.

The Opposition has already indicated that the allegations contained in the Volcker report and the Mitrokhin Archives will be on the top of its agenda and it will like to have a discussion on these issues under rules which make voting mandatory.

A lot of noise is also expected to me made on the continuation of the former External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh in the Union Cabinet despite the setting up of the Pathak Inquiry Authority to go into his alleged involvement in the oil-for-food scandal.

Mr. Dasmunsi said the Business Advisory Committee would decide the business at a meeting on Thursday. The "Government is not afraid of discussing any issue under any rule that is permitted. Why should the Government be afraid of a vote? Is there any doubt about its majority?"

At a meeting called by Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Tuesday the government clarified that while it was willing to respond convincingly and to the "satisfaction of the House" to all issues raised by the Opposition, time must be allotted "on parity" to government business.

On the possibility of a statement by Mr. Natwar Singh and a discussion on the Mitrokhin allegations that the Congress received KGB funds 20 years ago, Mr. Dasmunsi said, "the issues are not yet before us". While parliamentary sessions could sometimes be volatile "we will respond with confidence to all issues raised."

There are 52 Bills. The Manipur University Amendment and the Taxation Laws Amendment, which seek to replace ordinances, will be given priority. There are other Bills in category `A' including the Disaster Management Bill, the Communal Violence (Prevention and Control) Bill, a Constitution Amendment Bill seeking to minimise government control over and interference in cooperatives and to democratise and professionalise them, a Bill to set up a Commission for Protection of Child's Rights, the Petroleum Natural Gas Regulatory Board Bill, and the much awaited measure to recognise forest rights of tribals.

Mr. Dasmunsi said there was no comprehensive consensus or unanimity among the parties on the Women's Reservation Bill. That would have to await more consultations.

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