By IANS,
New Delhi : In a move to put pressure on the Congress-led government on the eve of parliament’s winter session, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Monday demanded the resignation of Home Minister P. Chidambaram for his alleged role in the 2G spectrum allocation and said it will boycott him till he quits.
Reacting to the move, Law Minister Salman Khurshid described it as “uncharitable” and “unkind.”
The move, which came as a surprise to the government which is aiming to pass some landmark legislation, including the Lokpal bill, in the winter session, came after the meeting of the NDA at the residence of BJP veteran L.K. Advani.
BJP’s deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha S.S. Ahluwalia said in a hard-hitting remark that Chidambaram is as much to be blamed for the 2G scam as former communications minister A. Raja, who is now in jail.
“Prime Minister Manmohan Singh accepted the resignation of Raja because he was from an allied party. But he (prime minister) didn’t seek his (Chidambaram’s) resignation,” he told reporters.
“So, till the time Chidambaram’s resignation is not accepted, BJP will boycott Chidambaram. We will not allow him to speak,” he said.
The decision came a day after BJP leaders vented their anger over the arrest of its members in the 2008 cash-for-vote scam at the rally Sunday to mark the completion of Advani’s 40-day Jan Chetna Yatra.
The party is also seemingly angry over the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registering a case in the allocation of additional spectrum to private telecom firms when the late Pramod Mahajan was telecommunications minister in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.
The decision to boycott Chidambaram could see a return of scenes witnessed in parliament when Congress decided to boycott former defence minister George Fernandes over his re-induction in the BJP-led NDA cabinet before a probe panel looking into alleged irregularities in defence deals gave its report.
The NDA move also revived memories of the last winter session, which was washed out due to opposition insistence on a joint parliamentary committee to probe 2G spectrum scam.
Congress described it as “unfortunate”.
Khurshid said : “If they (NDA) have a problem, they should just ask him to share it with them. He has friends on the other side of the house as well.
“It will be uncharitable and unkind if those friends don’t give him a chance to at least to explain what he wants to say,” he told NDTV.
Said Congress spokesperson Raashid Alvi: “It is very unfortunate. Parliament is a place for debate and not for decisions like this. Government is ready to for discussion on any issue. Such decisions affect dignity of Parliament. It seems the BJP does not respect parliament.”
He also said that the move could not be compared with Fernandes episode as at that time the government had formed a commission and he was re-inducted without the commission giving its report.
“In the case of Chidambaram there is neither a commission or investigation or a court verdict,” Alvi told IANS.
The BJP has been insisting that Chidambaram’s role be probed in the scam as he was finance minister in 2008 during the allocation of scarce spectrum.
Apart from Congress-party ally DMK’s Raja and his party colleague Kanimozhi, there are 12 others, including corporate bigwigs in jail for their alleged role in the 2G scam.
Upping its ante against the Congress government, the NDA has also decided to support Left’s motion on price rise and blackmoney.
“The Left and NDA will support each other’s motions on price rise and blackmoney,” Ahluwalia said.
He added they will also oppose the FDI in retail and civil nuclear liability bill. “We want to make a strong nuclear liability bill,” he added.
“We will bring adjournment motion on black money stocked in foreign banks. We want the government to table in parliament the list of 782 people whose money is deposited in Swiss banks,” he said.
He said the entire opposition has agreed on issues of black money and price rise.