 "Gloves are off, Cong & BJP trade charges over Augusta Westland issue")
With the Congress-led opposition attempting to put the government on the mat in Parliament over the Uttarakhand issue, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lined up its counter-offensive, targeting the Congress over the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam and the Ishrat Jahan issue.
By afternoon, the Congress hit back, questioning the government on why it had removed AgustaWestland from the list of blacklisted entities. Proceedings in the Rajya Sabha again fell victim to the Congress’ obstructionist tactic, with no business being transacted. The only exception the Congress made was to allow and support the Left parties in raising the issue of action against Jawaharlal Nehru University students.
At the first BJP parliamentary party meeting of this session, the line was clear, the Congress was to be cornered on Ishrat Jahan and the Westland issue. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu instructed party members on Uttarakhand, the VIP chopper scam and how the previous Congress-led government stood with terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Tayyeba to prove Ishrat, who was a terrorist, as a nationalist. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also attended.
Jaitley reportedly said the entire world knew Ishrat was a “terrorist and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative” but the Congress and then Home Minister
P Chidambaram tried to whitewash the case. “The home minister appeared to be working with LeT,” Jaitley said. The minister added it was part of a conspiracy to politically finish Modi, the then Gujarat chief minister, and Amit Shah, now BJP president and then a minister in the state government. “The nation would not have seen something as abhorrent and shameful as this,” he said, adding that there would be a discussion in Parliament.
The Westland issue was also taken up and the new revelations, he said, had exposed the Congress and proved it was all about scams. Senior minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, while addressing the media, demanded to know from A K Antony, the defence minister during Congress rule, to name the politicians allegedly involved. “Bribe givers have been convicted. Why are bribe takers silent? Antony should answer if leaders of the Congress are involved in it or not.”
The Congress reacted with counter-questions. Deputy Leader of the Rajya Sabha and Congress leader Anand Sharma asked, “Why was AugustaWestland removed from the blacklisted list of firms and instead invited to participate in bids for naval contracts? Why wasn’t the probe initiated under (our) government brought to its logical conclusion?”
The breach between the ruling and opposition benches, especially in the Rajya Sabha, has become so wide that the two sides are constantly trying to garner ammunition to target each other both in and outside the house. Legislative business is stuck. The BJP issued a whip, asking all its members to be present in both houses. The party is in a minority in the Rajya Sabha and worries that it might lose the vote on ratification of the presidential proclamation of central rule in Uttarakhand.
The Lok Sabha took up a discussion on Demands for Grants (Railways) for 2016-17. During Question Hour in the House, a question on drought led to Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh attacking Congress-led governments in Maharashtra.
He alleged these governments got dams constructed to serve the sugar industry, not farmers. A question from Congress member Jyotiraditya Scindia on deployment of central forces in Srinagar’s National Institute of Technology also led to a heated exchange.
In the Rajya Sabha when Law minister Sadanand Gowda tried to move the Appropriation Acts (Repeal) Bill, 2015 and The Repealing and Amending (Third) Bill, 2015, amid the din, opposition members protested. With the din shoing no signs of abating, the house was adjourned for the day. The Rajya Sabha is to take up a discussion on Wednesday on drought in the country.
