No end in sight to Parliament deadlock

NEW DELHI: After a week-long deadlock in Parliament, a consensus still eludes political parties, with the Opposition disagreeing with the government’s formula to end the impasse. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee has convened a meeting of Lok Sabha leaders of all parties on Monday morning before both Houses meet for the day.

The government has proposed to the Opposition parties that Speaker Meira Kumar would move a resolution after a discussion under rule 193, which does not entail voting. The resolution would express concern over “inflationary pressure on the economy and call upon the government to contain its impact”.

The formula has been rejected outright by the entire Opposition. The NDA, which met here at BJP parliamentary party chairperson L K Advani’s residence here on Sunday night, decided to finalise its stand in consultation with the other Opposition parties. “The resolution is not acceptable to us. We’ll hold discussions with other parties before chalking out a common strategy,” NDA convenor Sharad Yadav told newspersons after the meeting of the alliance.

The Opposition, it is learnt, wants a more substantive resolution, which could include a criticism of the government for its failure to contain prices — a proposal which government managers just cannot accept as it would mean a rap of the ruling coalition.