House may be adjourned early

Although Speaker Somnath Chatterjee today wrote to leader of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Atal Bihari Vajpayee asking the alliance to call off its boycott of Parliament, it seems the boycott will continue till the last day of the session.

But given the "obstructive" mood of the Opposition, government sources have began talking of Parliament being adjourned ahead of time""possibly on May 5 instead of 13 May.

Although the NDA took part in the discussions on the Finance Bill in Lok Sabha yesterday, the alliance today said it would review the boycott on a daily basis.

It has become clear that as much as the Opposition wanted to make corruption the central issue, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was also hardening its position and was not in a mood to offer any concessions to the Opposition to induce them to return to the House.

At a meeting today, the Cabinet committee on political affairs decided against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh again calling upon the NDA to end the boycott.

The continuance of Lalu Prasad as a minister "despite charges being framed against him and the Supreme Court passing strictures" on the income-tax issue, was the latest ploy to continue the boycott of Parliament.

Yesterday, BJP leader Sushma Swaraj had said "self respect" and "dignity" of the Opposition was being violated by treasury benches and until that was addressed the Opposition would stay away.

This was interpreted to mean the personal attack on LK Advani's family and repeated references to his former daughter in law, Gauri Advani, by Prasad supporters.

But the fact that this decision would be reviewed on a daily basis, indicates that for the Opposition, this position is becoming tenuous.

"As the main opposition party, the BJP-led NDA cannot close our eyes to the corruption charges including the flood relief scam. The people have not given us the role of a mute spectator. The people's mandate for us is to be a vigilant guard", Swaraj, flanked by several NDA leaders, told reporters here after today's meeting.

"Our leaders are being humiliated. The leader of opposition is not allowed to speak. If we are not allowed to raise the issues, what's the point in remaining inside. We may as well remain outside and raise them", she said.

Dismissing suggestions that the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) was not with the NDA on the boycott issue, she said: "We spoke to TDP leader Yerran Naidu in the morning and he has assured us that his party fully supports us in the boycott decision".

Refuting reports that there were "differences" between Vajpayee and leader of Opposition LK Advani on the issue, the BJP spokesperson said, "there are absolutely no differences. Both are in our parliamentary party meetings and it is a unanimous decision to boycott Parliament".

With a view to removing any such "impression" about 'differences', she said henceforth NDA leaders will jointly address the media daily.

Asked what the opposition expected from the UPA government, Swaraj said, "we will tell them when they talk to us".

Biju Janata Dal leader BK Tripathy said the main issue before the alliance was that there was "no scope" for the opposition to raise its voice.

"They (ruling coalition) should gives us an assurance that they will listen to us silently when the leader of opposition and other opposition members speak", he said.

Shiv Sena leader Ananth Geethe said corruption charges against ministers were surfacing one after another and the government was not taking any action.

Bijay Panda (BJD) said while the floor leaders of the treasury benches assure the opposition that they would be heard, later they "throw up their hand" and are "unable to control members of their allies".