NDA joins debate on Finance Bill

The Opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) lifted its boycott of the Lok Sabha for today and took part in the debate on the Finance Bill, but continued to stay away from the Rajya Sabha and said even in the Lok Sabha, their attendance was only for today.

The stage was thus set for a prolonged negotiation between the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government and the Opposition. As Parliament session is on till May 13, it is unlikely that the Houses will function normally for the rest of the session.

After a 90-minute meeting of the NDA parliamentary party, chaired by former Prime Minister AB Vajpayee, BJP Deputy Leader in the Rajya Sabha Sushma Swaraj said the thinking, at present, was that the boycott of Parliament would be indefinite because Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was "only bothered about saving his chair" and the UPA government was being "hostile and vindictive" towards the Opposition.

The NDA decided to participate in the discussions on the Finance Bill to "demonstrate its commitment to parliamentary duties" she said. NDA members did not sign attendance registers in the Lok Sabha today, she said.

Swaraj said the decision to continue with the three-day boycott was taken as the UPA government had "failed to come up with any satisfactory response" to break the impasse. She described as a "mere formality" the Prime Minister's telephone calls to the leaders of Opposition in both Houses urging them to reconsider their decision.

The meeting also adopted a resolution accusing the UPA of treating the Opposition as its "enemy". Maintaining that the matters "remained where they were", the NDA resolution regretted that the framing of charges against a minister (Railway Minister Lalu Prasad) "does not disturb" the Prime Minister and he remained "insensitive" towards it.

"What matters to him (the Prime Minister) is to save his own chair," said the resolution read out to reporters by senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha, which asked Manmohan Singh to judge for himself whether it was "morally tenable".

The NDA charged the UPA with "setting a new and absolutely unacceptable norm of political conduct by allowing tainted ministers accused of corruption charges to continue in the council of ministers."

Asked what would "satisfy" the Opposition into lifting its boycott of Parliament, Swaraj said, "The issue is of the UPA's attitude towards the Opposition, which deserved to be given due respect as it was as much part of the political system as the treasury benches".

She said the decision to boycott was taken in "anger and agony" and the leader of the coalition, the Prime Minister, should "take responsibility" for the conduct of his allies as well. The Prime Minister could not shy away from it by explaining that away as the behaviour of a coalition partner, she added.

The BJP spokesperson particularly took exception to the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) members rushing to the well of the House recently when the leader of Opposition rose to speak. "We (the NDA government) had always given full opportunity to the leaders of Opposition," she said.

"We expect the government to at least take an initiative to assure us that the Opposition would be given full respect and allowed to be heard," Swaraj said. The ball was in the government's court, she added.

The parliamentary party meeting came a day after the meeting of top NDA leaders, chaired by Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha LK Advani, which failed to arrive at a consensus on the boycott of Parliament.