PM non-committal on House row

Although the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) yesterday hoped against hope that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would intervene in the parliamentary stalemate created by the decision of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to stay out of all House committees, the Prime Minister was non-committal about making any overtures to the Opposition to bring them back to the House.

"Adopting a confrontationist approach towards the Opposition is not the policy of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. I respect the democratic rights of the Opposition but expect it to cooperate with us in tackling the problems affecting the people," Singh said during a tour of flood-affected areas in Bihar.

This somewhat defeated the BJP's objective of engaging the Congress in an unblinking stare. The response from the Prime Minister was reasoned and without passion, leaving the Opposition wondering what to do next.

The NDA has withdrawn its members from the standing and consultative committees of Parliament in protest against the condemnation of the Opposition by Leader of the House (Lok Sabha) Pranab Mukherjee during the first part of the Budget session.

According to BJP leaders, only conciliatory moves by the Prime Minister can now repair the situation.

"We have done what we wanted to do, now it is up to the government to make a conciliatory move. We can meet them halfway only after that," said a senior BJP leader.

The NDA is said to be evaluating the Prime Minister's latest statement, which falls short of what they had expected. BJP chief M Venkaiah Naidu rubbed the fact in when he said it was the duty of the government of the day to seek the co-operation of the principal Opposition.

"This is all the more so clear in the matter of the general election 2004 mandate, which was not a clear mandate for a single party," he said.