The Bharatiya Janata Party has trained its focus and its guns on Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and has asked him to answer their long list of questions on the 2G spectrum issue, wanting to know why he has been changing his stand on both 2G and jailed former Union minister A Raja.
Accusing the PM of vitiating the atmosphere on the eve of the monsoon session of Parliament, the BJP, however, praised Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee for reaching out to the opposition and initiating a dialogue with BJP leaders for the smooth conduct of business during the session.
Senior BJP leaders said that the PM cannot sidetrack the issue of the 2G scam and his role in it by adopting a confrontationist stand and making statements like 'there are a lot of skeletons in the opposition's cupboard.'
Leaders of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, respectively, said the PM would have to answer since he was defending Raja on the floor of the house and later the same Raja went to jail. The Prime Minister's Office in a statement now says that Dr Manmohan Singh was aware of the developments in the telecom ministry, they noted.
While the first day of the monsoon session was a washout, the BJP has given notice under rule 184 (which entails voting) in the Lok Sabha on the twin issues of price rise and corruption.
Congress members have also given notice for discussions on price rise and corruption but under the non voting rule of 193.
Senior government managers aver that they are in dialogue with the opposition BJP on the wording of their motions which they say has to be acceptable to the government also. That means they do not want the PM or any minister mentioned in the motion but are willing to associate in expressing general concern over price rise as well as corruption.
Sources in the government say they are keen to send a signal that both the ruling party and the Opposition are united on the issues of price rise and corruption and that the government is serious in taking steps to handle both the issues.
In the last monsoon session of Parliament a joint resolution was passed on the issue of price rise with both sides expressing their concerns with the government being asked to take steps to curb skyrocketing inflation.
The same concerns are again sought to be expressed but with little or no effect since the price of essential commodities as well as petrol and diesel and other products has steadily gone up and has shown no signs of a downward trend.
Similarly on the issue of corruption, the Congress benches are all geared up to attack the BJP on the illegal mining issue in Karnataka where Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa had to resign after being indicted by the state Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde.
The BJP is of course going to put the PM on the mat on the 2G and the focus will be on Dr Singh and Chidambaram and how they handled the scam.
The government is also working on bringing the opposition on board on the issue of the campaign launched by civil society activists like Anna Hazare and company over the Lokpal Bill with the aim of sending across the message that 'the elected representative of the people cannot be sidelined by those who neither have the mandate nor the authority to hijack the democratic system of governance in the country.'
Here too the focus is on the PM with the government not wanting him to be included in the ambit of the Lokpal while opposition parties have yet to fully reveal their mind on the issue.
The BJP has still not fully articulated its stand on the Lokpal Bill as it has been busy firefighting in Karnataka in trying to tame the 'larger than life Yedyurappa' who has emerged as bigger than the BJP.
A senior minister said their perception is that the BJP wants the two houses of parliament to run and are willing to co-operate. Arun Jaitley said the BJP is keen to send the signal that it is not a 'one issue party' and that is why they have agreed to discuss the 13/7 Mumbai terror attacks as the first item in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
For the government this is being seen as not necessarily the best of news since the BJP attack would be micro focused on the PM who has in all the last 7 years never been so sharply under attack as he is now.
Is that the reason behind Dr Manmohan Singh attacking the BJP first by pointing to their 'skeletons,' as he did not want his own decisions to come sharply into focus? This is a question being asked both in the Congress and the BJP as the monsoon session gets off to an unsteady start.
