Left, NDA gird up to fight Patents Bill

The government will face stiff opposition from the Left and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on the Patents Ordinance which it will place before Parliament for approval.

The NDA may also boycott the Railway Budget presentation tomorrow. The Left parties will not support the government on the Patents Bill. They instead want the Bill to be referred to a select committee for wider consultation.

"The Ordinance was cleared by the Cabinet just a couple of days after the winter session of Parliament last year, and a day before the WTO-imposed deadline. This shows we were forced on the matter. We will demand that the Ordinance be referred to a select committee," said Nilotpal Basu of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M).

Differences between the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and the Left have grown so deep that they have formed a consultative committee for floor co-ordination in Parliament.

Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad will be on the committee along with Left leaders Basudeb Acharia, Nilotpal Basu, both from the CPM, Vasudevan Nair from the Communist Party of India, Abani Roy from the Revolutionary Socialist Party and Debabrata Biswas from the All India Forward Bloc.

The NDA, too, is gearing up to take on the government on various policy decisions including the Patents Bill and the airports modernisation issue. Bharatiya Janata Party's Parliamentary Spokesperson VK Malhotra said the NDA would be reviewing its stand on these issues.

When pointed out that the Patents Ordinance and the airports modernisation plans were in-keeping with the policies of the previous NDA government, he said that the NDA was now changing its stance on all issues, and putting them through rigorous review.

"We must review our stand on various issues from time to time. While a lot of the policies of the current government are a continuation of ours, it is not necessary that we agree with manners of their implementation," he said.

Criticising the Left he said, "we think that the Left should stop barking now for all the effect it seems to be having on the government."