Lok Sabha to discuss price rise today

Day two of Parliament’s Winter Session got off to a stormy start on today, with the Opposition causing uproar in Lok Sabha over the issue of price rise.

The commotion started as soon as the House assembled for Question Hour at 11 am.

Amidst the din, Speaker Meira Kumar adjourned the House till 12 noon.

Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari was also forced to adjourn the Upper House till 12 noon amid chaos.

The chaos preceded a planned discussion on the issue of price rise in the Lok Sabha today under a rule that does not entail voting. The government had yesterday managed to persuade the Opposition, mainly the Left parties, to have a discussion without voting.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal told reporters that the Lower House would take up the discussion on the statement of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on the price situation.

Bansal's announcement is significant given the fact that earlier on Tuesday, the Left parties had declared that they are firm on taking up an adjournment motion in Parliament on spiralling prices.

The Winter Session of Parliament had got off to a stormy start yesterday with opposition in the Lok Sabha raising a variety of issues and the Left parties protesting against price rise and giving an adjournment motion on the issue.

BJP has also announced plans to bring an adjournment motion on the issue of black money on Thursday, an issue on which it expects Left's backing.

Bansal said the government would try to reach out to the BJP so that the discussion on black money could be conducted under a rule that does not entail voting.

Parl's Winter Session begins today

Even as the government and the opposition appeared set for a clash in Parliament as the month-long Winter Session gets underway on Tuesday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appealed to all political parties to let the House function.

“The government is prepared to discuss all issues which the opposition may want to discuss... We have some very important legislations are which will be introduced in this session... There are pressing demands to convert those Bills into Acts of Parliament,” Singh told reporters outside Parliament.

The PM’s remarks came as the NDA-Left combine is set to move adjournment motions over black money and price rise.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal has already ruled out admitting the adjournment motions.

Calling on the opposition to give development agenda a push, the PM said “the global economy was facing serious difficulties and if we don’t manage our house well, we can also go down”.

On the issue of a planned boycott of Home Minister P Chidambaram by the opposition over his role in the 2G scam, the PM said “there was no case for such type of boycott” and added, “I hope political parties resist any such temptation.”

Minister of State in the PMO V Narayanswamy also defended Chidambaram, saying the Home Minister has done no wrong and that he is not involved in the 2G scam.

The notice for the motion in the Lok Sabha will be given by Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Gurdas Dasgupta and is likely to be backed by the National Democatic Alliance (NDA) and other opposition parties, a Left leader had earlier said.

The Left parties are also trying to get the backing of parties like the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) that support the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, he added.

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj had said that her party would raise the issues of price rise, corruption and black money in the session.

Meanwhile, MPs from Telangana region are planning to raise the issue of separate statehood for the region, sources said.

Digvijay Singh: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is BJP’s Plan C

Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh, Thursday, claimed that after Baba Ramdev and Anna Hazare, ‘Art of Living’ founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar would start a ‘campaign’ soon.

Digvijay tweeted: “Plan A - Baba Ramdev. Crashed. Plan B- Anna. ? Plan C - Sri Sri Ravi Shankar soon to start his campaign.”

Later talking to reporters Digvijay said that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was trying to bring in Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in their campaign against the government, while urging the spiritual guru not to get involved in this.

Singh said that the RSS had earlier brought in yoga guru Baba Ramdev and social activist Anna Hazare in the campaign.

"First they brought Baba Ramdev, and when he was exposed they came with Anna. We have heard now they are trying to bring Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ji," he said.

“I have always been saying from day one that all these are over all plans of the RSS, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) combine. They want to divert the attention of the people of the country. From the issue of involvement of Sangh activists in terror act in Malegaon, Ajmer dargah, Hyderabad, Samjhauta express, so it’s overall plan to divert attention from corruption done by BJP members,” he added.

He further said that UPA government has taken all positive steps against issues of corruption under the leadership of Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to check corruption.

“Right to Information Act was brought by us, Money Laundering Act was done by us…have taken action against corrupt people,” he added.

Further criticising the BJP, Singh asked: “Why BJP did not register the case against Bangaru Laxman under the prevention of corruption act when he was caught taking money on tape.”

“Why BJP MP was not sent to jail when caught on TV or camera taking bribe. Why case was not registered against Jaya Jaitley when she was caught on tape striking a deal with arms dealer in Defence Minister’s house. BJP record on charges of corruption has been pathetic,” he added.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has responded to Digvijay’s ‘plan’ tweet by saying that his comment is not worth responding too and that he doesn’t fear any one and will continue to raise his voice against the malice of corruption.

The Bangalore-based spiritual guru also advised Digvijay to enroll for the ‘Art of Living’ course.

The BJP also responded to Digvijay’s comment. Party spokesperson Ravishankar Prasad said that the BJP must thank Digvijay for working to ensure the downfall of the Congress.

Parliament set for 2G storm over NDA govt’s role

Stung by the CBI allegation that 2G spectrum allocation norms were violated during the NDA government’s tenure, the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) appear all set raise the issue in the Parliament on Friday.

The party while stressing that it had no issues with any investigations into the matter wondered why the probe agency had not found any evidence against UPA leaders Dayanidhi Maran and P Chidambaram in the issue.

The CBI had yesterday informed the Supreme Court in the 2G case hearing that it has found violation of norms by Arun Shourie and Pramod Mahajan, who were Telecom Ministers in the NDA government, and maintained that the role of then Finance Minister Jaswant Singh also needs to be examined.

"As far as BJP is concerned we are very clear that any investigation can be done during NDA regime as far as telecom allocation is concerned. We have ourselves said in Parliament that the 2G case can be investigated from 1998 itselfs. We are proud of the expansion of mobile and telephone connectivity during our regime and we have nothing to hide," BJP Chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

However, he insisted that the role of UPA government, especially that of then Finance Minister P Chidambaram, former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran and officials in the PMO should also be probed.

BJP targets Sonia in land acquisition row

With an eye on Anna Hazare’s crusade against corruption, the BJP raked up the scam involved in land allocation for the Rajiv Gandhi Trust in Haryana, targeting Congress president Sonia Gandhi.  Sensing the popular mood against corruption and given Hazare’s concern for the woes of the farmers resulting from land acquisitions, the BJP fielded former party president Rajnath Singh to raise the issue inside the Lok Sabha.

The reference to Congress president Sonia Gandhi led to uproarious scenes, forcing the House to be adjourned twice.

Amid repeated interruptions from the Congress members and objection from Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal who said that the state subject could not be raised in Parliament, Rajnath Singh defended himself on the ground that since the Land Acquisition Act will be a Central legislation, the issue could be taken up in Parliament.

While demanding a judicial inquiry into the land acquisitions in Haryana, Rajnath Singh wanted the Centre to issue an advisory to all the states to keep in abeyance the land acquisition proceedings until the new Land Acquisition Bill is passed in Parliament.  “Land acquisitions are for public purpose, but it cannot be justified, if it is done to benefit private builders,” he said.  However, when asked whether the BJP Central leadership would issue an advisory to the BJP-ruled states, Rajnath Singh simply stated that there was no land violation in these states.

From the village common land pool, land was leased out to the Rajiv Gandhi Trust for a period of 30 years.  In another instance, in 2006, land was acquired for Rajiv Educational Society, which was later sold to the private builders. Reacting to the claim of AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi that Haryana model of land acquisitions is the best model, Rajnath Singh asked,”Why then are the farmers angry in Haryana?”  Rajnath Singh said he had toured 12 villages in the area, including Ullahawas, and seen how the land was being acquired from farmers in an unjust and unfair manner.

During his visit to several villages in Haryana on August 5, delegations of farmers explained to him the modus operandi of the state government. Land acquisition proceedings are initiated under Section 4 and Section 6 of the Land Acquisition Act.  Once the villagers know that the government is all set to acquire the land, then, in collusion with the builders lobby, the administration withdraws the acquisition proceedings.

Hazare effect: Non-UPA parties join ranks

Slamming the government over the arrest of Anna Hazare and his team, BJP-led NDA, Left and several other Opposition parties on Tuesday joined ranks and demanded a statement by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on "violation of democratic rights". As Hazare was arrested and sent to Tihar Jail,
leaders of BJP, JD, Shiv Sena, CPI, CPI, Samajwadi Party, RJD and some other non-UPA parties held a meeting to discuss common strategy over the issue and came up with a vow to continue their agitation in Parliament against corruption.

"It has been decided that the Prime Minister should make a statement in both Houses of Parliament on whatever is happening in the country. Nobody else," Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said.

She said the demand for the Prime Minister's statement will be made tomorrow and it will determine Parliament's functioning.

Contending that action against Hazare reflected the government's "nervousness", she said the Opposition unity was not on jan lokpal bill but "violation of democratic rights".

Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley alleged the government was "trying to snatch people's right to protest" and said "the political leadership is trying to hide behind uniform".

Amid indications that Parliament would not be allowed to function, Jaitley said the impeachment proceedings against Calcutta high court judge Soumitra Sen on Wednesday will take place as per schedule at 3pm.

Slamming the government, CPI said it has "attacked the democratic right to conduct peaceful protest" and asked its party units to conduct peaceful agitation against it

Anna arrest: parties join hands to corner Govt

The UPA Government is finding itself isolated on the issue of arresting Anna Hazare and his supporters with all the opposition parties deciding to form a common strategy to take on the Government.

All the opposition parties are likely to meet at 2 PM in Parliament to decide on a joint strategy to corner the government. The Left Front has proposed that all the opposition parties should boycott Parliament proceedings for the next three days to protest against the arrest of Hazare and his supporters. The final decision will be taken in the meeting.

Earlier, both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha witnessed stormy scenes with the Opposition led by BJP MPs raised the issue of Hazare's arrest. The issue of detention of Hazare and his supporters led to pandemonium and frequent disruptions in Parliament with the Opposition demanding immediate discussion on the matter suspending the Question Hour.

The government objected to the demand throwing the Lok Sabha into turmoil, while the Rajya Sabha witnessed ruling party members opposing permission by the Chair to Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley to raise the matter.

BJP says Yeddyurappa must resign

The BJP parliamentary board has on Thursday asked tainted Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa to tender his resignation immediately.

 BJP spokesman Ravishankar Prasad said that the party has decided that it was time for a change in the Karnataka BJP leadership. He also said that Arun Jaitley and Rajnath Singh will go to Bangalore on Friday to select a new leader.

The top brass of the BJP met on Thursday morning at the residence of BJP president Nitin Gadkari, who met Yeddyurappa late Wednesday night.

Yeddyurappa, who continued to be defiant and ruled out his resignation, left for Bangalore early Thursday morning. He has convened of meeting of party MLAs in the morning in Bangalore.

Sources said usually a meeting of the parliamentary board, the party's highest decision making body, is called only when some big decision has to be taken, and this is also a pointer that Yeddyurappa's time is up.

Upon his arrival in New DElhi on Wednesday evening with his ministers and close confidants, Yeddyurappa appeared defiant to resign.

In the meeting with the party president and senior central party leaders Rajnath Singh, M Venkaiah Naidu and Dharmendra Pradhan, the political fallout of the Lokayukta report was discussed with Yeddyurappa.

The chief minister tried to convince the central leadership that the charges made in the report were not new and a court case was already pending in the matter.

However, the central leadership conveyed to him that his continuance would weaken BJP's fight against corruption, especially when the Monsoon Session of Parliament begins next week.