Speaker ready for debate on Volcker

There was no objection to the Opposition plans for raising adjournment discussions on the Volcker Committee report or any other important issues that they might seek to raise in the winter session of Parliament, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said today.

However, whether a discussion could be allowed on the Mitrokhin papers in which some Left party leaders had been accused of receiving money from the erstwhile Soviet Union had to be looked into, he said.

"I have objection. There is no problem about a discussion even on an adjournment motion. I don't have to act on somebody's consent. It is my decision," he told journalists during an interaction when asked about the Opposition plans to raise issues like the Iraqi oil payoffs based on the Volcker report.

He said former External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh, named as a beneficiary in the report, had not so far sought leave for making a statement on the issue. "I have to see whether he can participate in the discussion on the issue," he said.

On the Mitrokhin allegations, Chatterjee said, "It is a book. Whether we can allow a discussion (on the allegations based on a book) is a point I have to take a decision because anybody can then seek to raise discussions on the basis of allegations in books."

But buoyed by its victory in Bihar, a charged NDA is likely to stall proceedings in both Houses of Parliament for the remaining part of the week by moving tomorrow an adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha condemning the Congress and its leaders for "compromising the country's interests for monetary gains".

At a meeting chaired by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the BJP-led Opposition also decided to press for the resignation of Natwar Singh as Union minister and Sonia Gandhi as chairperson of the National Advisory Council over the Volcker report and not allow smooth functioning of both Houses if the adjournment motion was not accepted, BJP spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra said.

Alleging that the Mitrokhin archives, the Volcker report and the former US Ambassador Daniel Moynihan's book have "thoroughly exposed" the Congress, the motion, signed among others by NDA convener George Fernandes and Malhotra seeks to condemn the party and its leaders for "compromising" national interests.