By IANS,
New Delhi: A sense of jubilation and a collective sigh of relief spread among the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) members in the Lok Sabha Tuesday as the government sailed through the opposition cut motions over price rise. Opposition leaders were visibly dejected at being outnumbered but maintained that their aim was not to destabilise the government.
The government’s confidence could be seen even before it had the numbers on board as Congress president Sonia Gandhi and senior-most union minister Pranab Mukherjee looked relaxed as they sat in the front row of the treasury benches.
Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, wearing his trademark white kurta-pyjama and sporting a beard, was seen chatting intermittenly with Rohtak MP Deepender Singh Hooda during the proceedings in the house.
After breezing through cut motions, the Congress leadership was seen beaming and some senior leaders went ahead and patted Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs V.Narayanasamy and Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Prithviraj Chavan. The three ministers worked overnight to manage the floor and muster the crucial votes.
A day after Manmohan Singh asserted there was no threat to his government, the UPA defeated the opposition with the Bahujan Samaj Party’s (BSP) vital legislative support. The Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) lent a helping hand by walking out of the Lok Sabha. That firmly tilted the balance in favour of the ruling coalition.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee smiled, and hailed the government’s victory.
“The house has approved the demand for the grants decisively. It was expected. BSP supported us and our members were also present,” he said.
He added that it was an impressive approval the Lok Sabha has given to the demand of grants by rejecting the cut motions.
Though no discussion was scheduled, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad made critical references to price rise before leading their members out of the house.
The move, which was being anticipated the last two days, dashed the opposition hopes to bring its numbers close to that of the ruling coalition. Prasad, in his inimitable style, also tried to touch the fault lines between the Left and the BJP by asking if the two disparate entities will vote together.
The walkout of the SP and RJD members increased the comfort zone of the government which was earlier in the day assured of the BSP’s support by its supremo and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati.
The treasury benches greeted their walkout with the thumping of the desks.
However, a peeved BJP shouted “chor bachaye chor (thief is saving a thief).”
The BJP hit out at the government even in defeat. “The BJP stood by the common man, while the government has betrayed the common man,” said BJP leader Anantha Kumar.
When opposition leaders were quizzed by the media, they said the government had used the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as a tool to get Mayawati’s support.
Sitaram Yechury of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) maintained that the opposition had proved a point.
“The purpose of the cut motions was to bring the government under pressure for rollback in prices of petrol, diesel and urea,” he said. “The aim was not to destabilize the government. In a way, we were successful both inside and outside (the house) to put pressure on the government.”
Yechury’s reference to “outside” was to a nationwide shutdown called Tuesday by 13 opposition parties that affected life in Left-ruled West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura and disrupted functioning of educational institutions, businesses and road and rail transport in varying degrees in Bihar, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand.
In the end, Congress party MPs were seen exiting parliament with big smiles, congratulating each other on having won the day.