The issue of price rise, if voted on in the two Houses of Parliament, will expose at least five major parties which are either part of the Centre or support it from the outside, and the fence-sitters.
These parties are the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, DMK and Trinamul Congress. The SP, BSP and RJD will have no option but to back the government directly or indirectly in Parliament for “obvious” reasons despite the fact that the Congress would be their main rival in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The Left has been pressing for voting to expose the Trinamul Congress in the coming West Bengal Assembly polls while the Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK would try to fix the ruling DMK in the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections on the same issue.
Besides, this will also compel fence-sitters like the JD(S) and TRS to take a position on the sky-rocketing prices of essential commodities.
Government managers and Congress strategists are blaming the Opposition for pressing for voting in Parliament. “This will be a bad precedent. Their (Opposition) cut motions got defeated in the Lok Sabha in the Budget Session. They should not demand voting in every session. Anyway, this (voting) will not make the government fall,” they said.
But the Opposition is asking why the government is shying away for a floor test. “We also know that the government has a majority and our motions would be negated. But we are with the people on this issue, let the message go from this highest institution,” they said. “If the government does not want voting, then the two Houses of Parliament should pass a resolution expressing concern over the unprecedented price rise,” one Opposition leader said.
DMK and Trinamul leaders are in favour of a discussion on this issue in Parliament with the calculation that their criticism will not give their rivals — the AIADMK and Left — any opportunity to draw political mileage.
Trinamul chief whip in the Lok Sabha Sudip Bandopadhyay said outside Parliament that his party was for a discussion but was against the Opposition’s demand for a debate under a rule that entails voting.
Significantly, the government ruled out any rollback in cooking gas and kerosene prices before the Lok Sabha Speaker and the Rajya Sabha Chairman took a view on Opposition members’ notices on the issue. Petroleum minister Murli Deora on Tuesday ruled out any rollback, saying the increase was “not that high” and would not affect consumers much. “What should we roll back? We have increased prices only by Rs 3. If a family uses five litres of kerosene a month, then its expenditure is increased only by 50 paise per day,” he told reporters here.
Parliament is unlikely to function on Wednesday if the government and the Opposition continue to stick to their stated positions. Parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said the government was prepared for a discussion on any of the 62 items listed by the Opposition but the adjournment motion does not apply to any of those.
Deputy leader of the BJP in the LS Gopinath Munde said, “Tomorrow (Wednesday) also we will bring an adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha and will not agree to a discussion under any other provision as we want voting on the issue. Only when there is voting will we know who is in favour and who is not.”
In the RS, a notice for suspension of Question Hour under Rule 168 to discuss and vote on price rise will again be moved on Wednesday by the BJP and other Opposition parties. “Government wants to postpone discussion under an adjournment motion on price rise. We will ask the Chair to decide what should be done. Till now the government has not formally rejected our demand for an adjournment motion and the Speaker’s ruling is pending,” Mr Munde said.
The CPI(M), coordinating with the TDP, AIADMK and BJD besides its allies in the Left Front, is in talks with the SP and RJD to garner support for taking on the government on price rise. CPI(M) politburo member and RS member Sitaram Yechury said the party will demand a discussion on price rise in the Upper House under Rule 168, which entails voting, to pressure the government to take measures that provide relief to the people. In the LS, the Left parties had given notice for an adjournment motion on the issue. “By insisting on a discussion under rules that entail voting, we intend to put pressure that they act,” Mr Yechury said.
CPI(M) leader Basudeb Acharia said the government should agree to an adjournment motion on price rise in the LS if it is confident of its numbers. He wondered why the government was opposing an adjournment motion on a hike in prices of petroleum products effected in June.