The Congress allies in the UPA have suggested the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to talk to the Opposition leaders on slide in rupee and other issues. A senior Union minister met Dr Singh the other day and suggested him to have a dialogue with the Opposition leaders.
The UPA insiders feel that the government should take the Opposition, industrial champions and other sections into confidence about the current situation. They said entrepreneurs are reluctant to make investment in the country for different reasons, especially the current atmosphere is not conducive, they fear.
Dr Singh, who will be completing 10 years in office in May next year, is hurt by the Opposition attack on him and thus finding difficult to talk to them. Earlier, Mr Pranab Mukherjee used to have good equations with the Opposition leaders.
But his elevation to the post the President of India created a sort of communication gap between the government managers and the Opposition.
Mr Sharad Pawar and Dr Farooq Abdullah could be the two Union ministers in the UPA who can help the Prime Minister in initiating the dialogue with the Opposition on the issues of the national importance.
Opposition MPs have been demanding for a structured debate on the current economic situation in the country in the two Houses of Parliament. But this debate could be meaningful only if does not confine to party politics.
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UP high court dismisses PIL against ban on yatra
amita verma
Lucknow, Aug. 24
The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Saturday dismissed a petition against the Akhilesh Yadav government’s ban on VHP’s proposed yatra, scheduled to begin from Sunday.
The court order comes as a major reprieve for the state government’s decision to ban the yatra.
A division bench comprising Justice Laxmi Kant Mahapatra and Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhaya dismissed the PIL filed by a local lawyer Mahesh Gupta that sought direction to the state government to allow the devotees to undertake the 84 Kosi Parikrama.
The court observed that the “parikrama” yatra does not have any customary right. Additional advocate general Bulbul Godiyal said that such type of parikrama is performed in “Chaitra” month of the Hindu calendar (April) and has already been held between April 25 to May 20 this year.
Ms Godiyal told the court that the proposed period of the yatra from August 25 to September 13 is apparently not for the religious purposes but is actually for political reasons.