As the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) expressed its resolve to take its fight over the Joint Parliamentary Probe (JPC) to the streets, the facade of unity among the “secular” Opposition has been torn asunder with Mr H.D. Deve Gowda of the Janata Dal (Secular) making it clear that his party is not in favour of stalling Parliament over the 2G
issue during the Budget Session. Mr Gowda also took pot-shots at the BJP for crying hoarse over the alleged 2G scam while turning a blind eye to the loot carried out by the Karanataka chief minister Mr Yeddyurappa. He also is of the opinion that fresh elections could be called instead of paralysing Parliament everyday.
Interacting with reporters in the capital on the last day of the Winter Session of Parliament, the former Prime Minister unequivocally stated that he wouldn’t be a party to any decision that will lead to the disruption of Parliament during the Winter Session. He added that he had communicated that to the 11 member “secular” Opposition.
“We have had three meetings. In the last meeting, I told them it is not fair to hold the parliament to ransom anymore and that my party will not disrupt Parliament during Winter Session over the 2G spectrum allocation scam. I have requested them to accept my proposal.”
Asked what the response of his alliance partners was, the Janata Dal (Secular) supremo said, “I hope they too would follow suit. I am sure they will give serious thought to it.” But Mr Gowda promised to participate in the rally being called by the “secular” opposition towards the end of this month.
Favouring snap-polls to disrupting Parliament on a daily-basis, he called on both the BJP and his own alliance partners in the “secular” Opposition to wait for the outcome of the investigation into the 2G scam and not think of creating ruckus in Parliament. He said, “What is the point? One will have to wait for the one-man commission’s report or the result of the CBI’s investigation. Instead of disrupting daily, my personal opinion is to go in for fresh elections.”
Taking a swipe at the BJP for attempting to put the government to the mat over the 2G spectrum scam, the veteran politician asked, “What right does the BJP have to call the UPA government the most corrupt when they have not acted against Yeddyurappa? He alleged that the BJP was raising the issue of JPC only to cover up its own tracks in Karnataka, where the chief minister was resorting to crony-capitalism in all segments and most notably in the land sector. Training his guns against the BJP national leadership for having absolved Yeddyurappa of any wrong-doing,” Mr Gowda said.