NDA Govt Working on 3 Parties

Nov 29 2014 : The Economic Times (Kolkata)

NDA Govt Working on 3 Parties

CL Manoj

New Delhi:





PUSHING INSURANCE BILL THROUGH OPPOSITION BLOCKADE Centre unleashes a multi-pronged counter-strategy to ensure panel submits its report by Dec 12 to gift govt an opening in this Parliament session itself

The government is working on a strategy to ensure that the select committee on insurance submits its report by the December 12 deadline for it to push through the bill in the ongoing Parliament session.NDA has also mounted a hunt to mop up numbers in the 15-member select committee by focusing on vulnerable regional parties. NDA has accelerated its efforts after sensing an opposition plot to seek another extension of the Rajya Sabha select committee beyond the current deadline.NDA is confident that panel chairman Chandan Mitra would be able to submit report within the deadline. The ruling side will insist from Tuesday that the panel go ahead with its scheduled meetings if they find the quorum and not wait for majority members to be present. As per rules, presence of four members will fulfil the quorum and it won't be difficult for NDA to ensure that. BJP has three members -Mitra, VP Singh Bhadnore and R Ramakrishnan -and partner SAD one, Naresh Gujral. Also, Indp member Rajiv Chandrashekhar is a supporter of the bill.
NDA's second strategy is to build support within the committee so that its report could be presented before the House. "We are trying to ensure the committee proposes a report that carries the majority support in the panel.Those who disagree may submit their own separate reports (dissenting notes)," said a source in the ruling front. NDA is unlikely to face any problem in passing the Bill in the Lok Sabha as it has a clear majority in the Lower House. But it is facing a test in the Rajya Sabha, where it is short of numbers.
The line-up in the panel gives the sources an impression that it is divided into three blocks: five members -BJP, Akali Dal and Chandrashekhar -clearly backing the Bill and six others opposing it -three from Congress, one each from Trinamool, CPM and JD(U). The third, and the most crucial in tilting the balance, comprises one member each from AIADMK, BJD, SP and BSP. These parties are being "worked on" by the proand antibill groups in this battle for majority.
During the monsoon session, AIADMK member V Maitreyan had moved an amendment opposing the proposal to hike the FDI to 49% and that amendment still stands before the panel. In between the monsoon and win ter sessions, the most important factor in AIADMK was the conviction of party chief J Jayalalithaa in a corruption case, who is now out of jail on bail. "We will have to see whether this factor impacts the AIADMK stand ," said an opposition member on the panel.
The BJD member, sources say , has of late been showing a kind of understanding with NDA, incidentally , at a time when CBI probe into the Saradha chit fund scam has reached Odisha, where the party is in power. "Unlike Mamata who had declared war on the NDA regime over the CBI raids and arrests in the case, the BJD camp is showing no such belligerence," said a panel member.
The remaining two members belong to parties which UPA had managed to extract support from when it was in power. The recent regrouping of the Janata Parivar -JD(U), SP , RJD, JD(S) and RLD -seems to have made SP so far remain in the company of JD(U) and others opposed to the bill. Mayawati has made it clear that BSP will take a final call at an appropriate time, giving an impression she is keeping the option of backing the bill open, depending on the ruling side's ability to offer a deal. NDA's plans to get the bill through in the panel and in the House depend on its ability to work on three key regional and wavering parties: BSP, BJD and AIADMK.