| New Delhi, March 20: Human trials of the UPA's life-saver formula have passed the first two rounds but it comes with a rider: be prepared to juggle the 3Ms as the situation demands. If the MPs of Mayawati and Mamata Banerjee stayed away and that of Mulayam Singh Yadav stayed put in the Lok Sabha to help the government save face yesterday, Mayawati's flock today joined that of Mulayam to bail the government out in the Rajya Sabha. The Trinamul Congress stuck to its abstention policy that aided the government by lowering the majority mark. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who sat through the proceedings in the Rajya Sabha, allowed himself to break into a smile after the vote in which the Opposition's amendments to the President's speech were defeated. Failure in the tests on Monday and Tuesday would not have had much of a consequence other than red faces in the UPA. But what happened in the Rajya Sabha today was of much interest to the government because the UPA does not have a majority of its own in the Rajya Sabha even if Trinamul votes along with it. Without the votes of the BSP, which now has 17 members in the Rajya Sabha, the government cannot hope to get key measures, including the general and railway budgets, passed in the upper House. A sneak preview was available today. Had the BSP not voted with the government, the UPA's tally would have been reduced to 101, two less than that of the Opposition's 103. Like yesterday, the BJP and the Left voted together against the government on the President's speech. The voting results of the two days suggest the BSP may abstain in the Lok Sabha but it has to vote with the government in the Rajya Sabha to prevent amendments being forced upon money bills. The number of BSP members will eventually go down as it has lost heavily in the latest Assembly polls. But the Samajwadi Party, whose four Rajya Sabha MPs voted for the UPA today, stands to gain and the government is hoping that it can bank on the support of the party. BSP general secretary Satish Chandra Mishra said his party MPs voted with the government as it was not their intention to destabilise the government. "We are for federal structure.… But once Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gave an assurance in the House that first there will be a consultation on NCTC (National Counter-Terrorism Centre) and then some decision would be taken, we are not here to destabilise the government by voting against it," he said. In his reply in the Rajya Sabha on the motion of thanks to the President's address, Prime Minister Singh countered the opposition's charge that the Centre was destroying the federal structure of the country. "Nothing could be further from the truth. Let me assure the House that our government is committed as ever before to uphold the constitutional imperatives in letter and spirit," he said. The Prime Minister drew attention to the abduction of Italian tourists by Maoists in Odisha. "What happened in Odisha earlier this week… is a grim reminder to all of us that our nation's security can be in danger if we are not careful or alert to tackle the danger of Left-wing extremism or terrorism," Singh said, suggesting that a national effort is needed to address security issues. The Prime Minister said the setting up the NCTC was an important step in the Centre's effort to provide "fully secured living conditions to its citizens". CPM's Sitaram Yechury said the Opposition was willing to withdraw their amendments if the Prime Minister gave an assurance that "only with the consent of the states, only with an agreement with the states, it (NCTC) will be done". However, the Centre disagreed. Parliamentary affairs minister P.K. Bansal said the Opposition wanted to "dictate the outcome" of the April 16 meeting (of chief ministers on internal security) which wasn't acceptable to the government. | 
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment