Is the government trying to dilute the discussion over the Indo-Pak joint statement in the Lok Sabha, where the prime minister is scheduled to intervene and make his position clear on certain contentious references in the statement?
The government has suddenly agreed to allow a discussion under Rule 193 on price rise after the Left leaders raised the issue claiming that the matter was urgent and could not wait. So the government was quick to respond and now according to the schedule, the price rise discussion would take place first followed by the discussion on 'issues arising out of the prime minister's foreign visits'.
Interestingly, 67 members have already given notice for wanting to speak on the issue of price rise, which concerns every MP and every constituency. The Speaker would find it very difficult to curtail the members, as price rise is everyone's favourite topic of discussion.
The House also cannot run late since Congress President Sonia Gandhi is hosting a dinner for party MPs in the evening and it has been decided that the house will have to be adjourned by 7.30 pm.
A senior leader disclosed that the government would not like the discussion to be prolonged and would in fact like to make it as short as possible.
A senior BJP leader disclosed that it had been decided to hold the discussion on price rise on August 3 and wondered why the government so readily agreed to the left demand for a discussion on price rise almost before it was raised. The notice for this has been given by the Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India-Marxist with the left leaders finding very little to fault the government on the controversial formulations in the joint statement.
While it is customary to decide the details of what time the prime minister would intervene and which are the speakers being fielded by the ruling party, in this case the parliamentary affairs minister said that no decision had been taken and it was not yet decided who would speak. The speakers would be briefed in the morning but would be giving the briefing still remains to be seen.
The party after speaking on Monday on the issue, has maintained a stoic silence refusing to say anything further except that they would wait and watch for the prime minister's statement after which the party would respond. Sonia is expected to speak on the subject in the Congress Parliamentary Party meeting after the prime minister gives his clarification.
The BJP in the meantime did an interesting thing. Instead of waiting to go and meet the President and complain to her about the government's stand on Pakistan after the PM's intervention, the BJP top brass called on President Pratibha Patil on Tuesday and complained to her.
The NDA delegation met President Patil and asked her to 'intervene' and give 'correct advice' to the UPA government on the recent Indo-Pak Joint Statement and other recent foreign policy initiatives.
"Our demand to the President was that she should intervene and give correct advice to the government on these issues," Leader of Opposition LK Advani told reporters, after submitting a memorandum to Patil.
"One-by-one, facts about the Indo-Pakistan Joint Statement have come to light, which have raised doubts," the senior BJP leader added. Two major doubts, which arose after this Joint Statement were de-linking of terrorism from the composite dialogue process and the mention of Balochistan in the document, the leader of Opposition said.
Advani said, till now there was a consensus inside and outside Parliament that until Pakistan took "satisfactory steps" in combating terrorism, there could be no progress in talks.
Similarly, Balochistan -- which had never been mentioned in any talks -- has found a place in the statement, he said.
The manner in which it has been mentioned in the Joint Statement gives the impression that we are "doing something" there, Advani indicated. The issues of climate change and "imposition of NPT through the back door" on India were also brought up by the delegation.
The NDA delegation told the President that after the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, NPT was being "imposed on India through the backdoor". Advani said India had always had an independent foreign policy but "foreign pressure" was visible in the recent developments.
The senior BJP leader maintained that during the NDA regime India had good relations with Pakistan but never compromised on the issue of terrorism.
The party insisted that India made "earnest efforts" like the Lahore bus diplomacy and inviting President Pervez Musharraf for the Agra summit. On the issue of climate change, Advani said India's stand was that Western nations were responsible for global warming as rapid industrialisation was taking place there. Action should be taken against them, he demanded.
The delegation consisted of nearly 150 MPs. NDA's acting convener Sharad Yadav (JD-U) and MPs from Shiv Sena, Shiromani Akali Dal and other partners were part of the delegation.
Sources say that the Congress MPs who participate in the discussion are expected to attack the NDA government for its sins of omission and commission and what the then Home Minister L.K.Advani was doing while terrorists were being freed, along with other charges and counter-charges.
