Politics makes for strange 'bed fellows'

While the Congress got the Left to demand a discussion on the GSPC issue, the BJP got TMC to rile Sonia Gandhi on AgustaWestland

When outgoing Rajya Sabha member and Congress leader Jairam Ramesh tried, for 13 days, to get his notice for a discussion on the alleged Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) scam and failed, he turned to the Left for help. Ramesh has now got Communist Party of India (Marxist) member Tapan Sen to submit a notice on the issue, which will keep the issue alive and help in targeting the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming monsoon session.

This is not an isolated incident. In the just-concluded Budget session, both the Congress and the BJP reached out to strange bedfellows to push their respective agendas in the Upper House, where the Opposition strength outweighs that of the government.

Throughout the session, the BJP government attacked the Congress on the AgustaWestland issue. To bolster Subramaniam Swamy’s targeting of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Trinamool Congress (TMC)’s Sukhendu Sekhar Roy demanded the names of the alleged bribe-takers be revealed. “Who is this Signora Gandhi?” Roy demanded to know, and despite the Rajya Sabha chairman urging him to desist, he persisted, risking expulsion from the House for a day.

Just in case the TMC-BJP bonhomie had escaped anyone’s attention, Arun Jaitley underscored it saying the TMC member’s queries had riled the Congress benches. Jaitley was in the process of rebuffing the Congress’ demand for a discussion on the GSPC issue.

Notwithstanding the Congress’ numerical strength in the House, the new political alignment in West Bengal between the CPI (M) and the Congress was reflected in Parliament as well. The Congress got the Left to second its demand for a Supreme Court-monitored probe into the ongoing AgustaWestland investigation. More importantly, the CPI (M) stood resolutely by it when it attacked the ruling BJP on President’s rule in Uttarakhand. Even when the Lok Sabha, where the BJP has majority, had passed the Uttarakhand Budget, the Left supported the Congress and consistently foisted any attempts by the government to take up any discussion on it in the Rajya Sabha.

Following the floor test and restoration of the Congress’ Harish Rawat government in Uttarakhand, the CPI (M) politburo issued a statement condemning the Centre’s attempts to stamp out democratically elected governments in states.

In the just-concluded session, both the Opposition and the treasury benches, took potshots at each other over their new-found ‘friends’.

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POLITICS IN PARLIAMENT

• In the just-concluded Budget session, both the Congress and the BJP reached out to strange bedfellows to push their respective agendas in the Upper House
   
• Throughout the session, the BJP government attacked the Congress on the AgustaWestland issue
   
• Notwithstanding the Congress’ numerical strength in the House, the new political alignment in West Bengal between the CPI(M) and the Congress was reflected in Parliament as well
   
• The Congress got the Left to second its demand for a SC-monitored investigation into the ongoing AgustaWestland probe