The Budget session starting tomorrow will see the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance trying to corner the government in Parliament on issues related to alleged attack on the country’s federal structure and implementation of a National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC).
A session-eve huddle by NDA allies also decided to raise the recent decision to ban cotton exports as a point of discussion, but the government has now announced it would lift it — just a week after imposing it. The BJP-led Opposition bloc is planning to demand a special discussion on the issue of NCTC, and on how the Centre has “attacked” the country’s federal structure by unilaterally deciding to ban cotton exports.
Senior NDA leaders met at the residence of BJP veteran L K Advani, and concluded it was against the spirit of federalism for the government to have decided to set up NCTC and ban cotton exports without consulting affected states. They noted Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh were not taken on board.
Among those who had vehemently opposed the cotton export ban were agriculture minister Sharad Pawar and Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi. Both leaders had approached Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to know why the government had not informed them of the decision. Modi had sent a letter questioning why the government had not discussed the issue with cotton-growing states.
The alliance has also decided not to obstruct home minister P Chidambaram from speaking in Parliament. NDA leaders had not allowed him to speak during the winter session, and had alleged the home minister was also involved in the controversial 2G telecom spectrum allocation.
The meeting also saw NDA leaders agreeing to join hands with Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy and include him in their alliance. BJP president Nitin Gadkari had announced earlier that Swamy would be included in the NDA, but the decision was on hold. This was because some senior BJP leaders and allies were uncomfortable with Swamy’s recent comments on minorities and didn’t want to be seen on his side.