Katara, CD row to cast shadow over post-recess session

Calcutta News.Net
Tuesday 24th April, 2007 (IANS)

Parliament's resumed budget session Thursday will see a defensive ruling Congress warding off attacks against its economic policies and the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) trying to dodge censure for its MPs' role in a major human trafficking racket and inflammatory CDs.

While the Congress prepared to defend itself from the harsh criticism of its allies, including the communists, for its 'neo-liberal' economic policies, the BJP, which had stalled proceedings over the Bofors bribery scandal before the recess, is likely to face the heat following the arrest of party MP Babubhai Katara for trying to smuggle a woman on his wife's passport.

The session, scheduled till May 22, may witness changes in political equations if elections in Uttar Pradesh throw up a hung verdict pushing the Congress to a distant fourth. The last three legs of the seven-phased assembly polls will be held while parliament is in session. Vote counting takes place May 11.

For BJP leaders who had been gearing up to attack the ruling party on the spiralling price rise and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's controversial remarks on Babri Masjid demolition and Bangladesh, the Katara incident was a setback.

'It is humiliating and we know that our rivals will raise it against us in parliament,' said BJP leader Santosh Gangwar.

'What can we do? This is the first time such a case is reported. There can be exceptions everywhere. We are working out measures to avoid such incidents,' he said.

He said the party would put the government on the mat over issues such as price rise and its failure to do enough to push through the implementation of a law that provides 27 percent reservation for OBC (other backward classes) students in centrally-run elite education institutions.

The Supreme Court had suspended the implementation of the law - passed by both houses of parliament - saying the data on OBCs in the country was not adequate.

'We will also question Rahul Gandhi's remarks on Bangladesh as it will have its effect on our foreign policy,' Gangwar told IANS, referring to the Congress MP's remarks that the creation of Bangladesh was an achievement of the Gandhi family.

It is not the opposition alone that is sharpening its knife against the ruling party.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-led Left Front, which extends crucial support to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, is also very unhappy.

In one of his harshest attacks on the government, the CPI-M said over the weekend that the political situation was 'marked by growing disenchantment among the people with the UPA government'.

Cautioning that its support could not be taken for granted, the CPI-M also spoke of a 'disconnect between what the people and even the Congress mass base are expecting and what the government and its ministers are striving for'.

Veteran communist leader Jyoti Basu had warned that the Congress was not following the common minimum programme and that his party MPs would raise the matter in parliament.

The Congress, Left and other anti-BJP parties will also target the BJP for the communally inflammatory compact discs the party issued in Uttar Pradesh in the run-up to assembly polls.

The government is hoping that the BJP's embarrassment over the CDs and the human smuggling racket will save it from attacks over price rise and other issues.

'The MPs will be raising the Katara issue and the CD controversy during the session,' Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Suresh Pachauri said. In the post-recess budget session, several bills, including the finance bill, are likely to be passed.

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