Parliament to be paralysed on Tuesday

NEW DELHI: Congress expectations that the arrest of Amit Shah will sharpen the secular-communal faultline and offer it the comfort of a divided Opposition in Parliament seem to have gone awry.

The entire Opposition bloc on Monday pledged to work together and put the government in the dock over its ‘inability to contain’ price of essential commodities.

The Opposition parties will on Tuesday move adjournment motions on price rise — a move that it being resisted by the government. The confrontation between the two sides is certain to paralyse Parliament on Tuesday.

The ruling side on Monday made it plain that it was averse to an adjournment motion. “We will not accept an adjournment motion. The government is ready for a short-duration discussion on price rise,” parliamentary affairs minister Prithviraj Chavan told reporters.

“We will give a notice tomorrow in the Lok Sabha for an adjournment motion on the rise in prices of kerosene and LPG cylinders, which were announced after the Budget session of Parliament got over,” Opposition leader Sushma Swaraj said.

Almost the entire Opposition seems united on the issue of price rise with Left parties, BJD, JD(U), ADMK among others, moving separate adjournment motions. Even RJD is planning to move an adjournment motion while BSP may demand a debate, sources said.

Opposition parties also want voting on the sensitive issue to “expose parties which keep talking about price rise but do not vote against the government”. Both Left and JD(U) plan to use the issue to corner Trinamool Congress and RJD.

The government had faced a similar Opposition onslaught against it during the budget session. But it managed to defeat the opposition-sponsored cut motions with help from the BSP, SP and RJD.

In the Business Advisory Committee meeting of the Rajya Sabha, the Opposition sought a short-duration discussion on the Bhopal gas tragedy verdict. Indo-Pak talks, Manipur economic blockade, the law and order situation in Jammu and Kashmir and Maoist threat to the country are other issues on which the Opposition has sought debate in the Upper House.