Will SP, NCP come to aid of Congress?

With an eye on the live telecast of the debate on the no-confidence motion, the Congress today carefully chose issues it will seek to highli...

With an eye on the live telecast of the debate on the no-confidence motion, the Congress today carefully chose issues it will seek to highlight: frequent train accidents, Gujarat’s Best Bakery case, atrocities against Dalits, financial crises and Defence-related issues.

But more than the issues and aware that the numbers don’t add up, Sonia Gandhi will be watching the moves of the Samajwadi Party and Nationalist Congress Party. Will they side with the party is what is eating the Congress. It wants more than just support from the Left and RJD.

What parties plan to debate

• RASHID ALVI (BSP): We will vote against the motion but will discuss Defence deals. The government need not disclose everything to the media, but it’s obliged to do so before Parliament. On Fernandes, we may believe it is immoral for a person to hold office when an inquiry is on, but we can’t question the PM’s right to appoint anyone as his Cabinet Minister.
• RAGHUVANSH PRASAD (RJD): We will highlight the Tehelka case, corruption in Defence deals and focus on disinvestment of HPCL, BPCL, sale of Balco and Modern Foods, how lakhs of jobs are lost. On PAC report, it’s surprising that George can give secret documents to an outsider like R V Pandit, but he can’t submit them to Parliament.
• RAM VILAS PASWAN (LJS): We will highlight how the BJP has sought to destroy every important democratic institution — CAG, NHRC, PAC, EC. This government is a complete failure. All it has successfully done is destroy the fabric of our society.

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In Lucknow today, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav had a swipe at senior UP Congress leader Salman Khurshid who had reportedly called the SP a regional party and an ‘‘ant’’.

Maintaining that the importance of his party could not be undermined and the next government at the Centre could not be formed without SP support, Mulayam said: ‘‘No one should take us lightly. We are no chinti (ant). We have shown our political might and will prove it as and when required in the future too.’’

The Congress is yet to decide what it plans to do when Defence Minister George Fernandes rises to speak against the motion in the House. The party wants to raise the Tehelka controversy, the issue over which it has been boycotting Fernandes for 18 months now.

The Congress says a final decision on the boycott issue will only be taken tomorrow in consultation with other Opposition parties but it’s looking at three scenarios: if it sits through the Fernandes speech without walking out in protest, it signals the end of the boycott; if there’s a walk-out, it means the boycott’s still on but that doesn’t augur well for the fragile Opposition unity; if it can agree on a milder boycott, like not posing any direct questions to Fernandes.

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It’s this last option, says a senior party leader, which is most tempting. Congress MPs in Rajya Sabha are already practising it: they do not walk out but also do not address Fernandes to show they don’t recognise him as the Defence Minister.

Tomorrow’s debate will be initiated by the mover of the motion, Congress president Sonia Gandhi at 12 noon. Other speakers of the party would include Shivraj Patil, Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, Mani Shanker Aiyar and Jaipal Reddy. Of the 109 Congress MPs in Lok Sabha, almost everyone has put in a request for a chance to speak. The final list of speakers will, however, depend on the total time allocated to the party by the Lok Sabha Speaker.

The choice of speakers will also be made keeping in mind that the Government would be fielding senior Cabinet ministers to speak against the motion. The Congress plans to emphasise the denial of the Central Vigilance Commission’s report on Kargil purchases to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). Buta Singh, the PAC chairman, may not speak except to answer references made about him by other speakers.