Opposition moves in to corner govt in Parliament

All parties outside the United Progressive Alliance government have decided to corner the Centre on the issue of price rise.

Parties ranging from the Left to the Bharatiya Janata Party to the Samajwadi Party and Laloo Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal deciding to move adjournment motions against the government on the issue in Parliament.

Since the adjournment motion involves voting too, there is no way the government would agree to it. There was trouble in the business advisory committee when the government stood firm in its stand and the Opposition parties remained unwilling to agree to anything less than an adjournment motion.

It looks highly unlikely that the Lok Sabha would run on Tuesday even as Union Parliamentary Affairs Pawan Bansal claimed they have resolved the issue in the Rajya Sabha with the government agreeing to the Opposition demand not to have the question hour and instead have a full discussion on the budget.

According to the laid convention, the first item for discussion when the budget session meets is the motion of thanks for the President's address, but this is now only likely to be taken up later. Clearly, the government is on the back-foot on issue of price rise.

The government says the opposition can vote while bringing in amendments on the President's address or cut motions during the budget so that there is no need for an adjournment motion. But the thinking in the Opposition camp is that with all parties agitated over price rise this is the best time to corner the government, even as they are
fully aware that the government would never agree to such a motion in the present climate.