New Delhi:
Day 1 of the new Parliament session was short - both Houses were adjourned by noon- long enough for the war cries to ring out.
The BJP has formally sought a debate, followed by a vote on corruption and price rise. The Left wants it too. The government says it doesn't have a problem with that, as long as the resolution moved by the Opposition does not refer specifically to a party or an individual.
"How is a debate possible on a resolution that does not include names?" asked CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury.
"The government is on the back foot," said the BJP's Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley. "The guilty cannot lay down the rules of the game." The government, they added, wants to protect the guilty behind "a purdah" (veil).
Before he headed into Parliament this morning, the Prime Minister said he hoped "this session will be constructive and productive." The BJP says that more often than not, it's campaign against corruption will focus on him.
Starting with the telecom scam. The BJP says that the PM "is trying to pass the buck" by suggesting that he was not aware of how India's largest-ever swindle was unfolding in his Telecom Department in 2008. In fact, the BJP charges, the PM micro-managed the telecom policy that resulted in such vertiginous consequences. At the time, A Raja was the Telecom Minister. He is now in jail for distributing valuable mobile network licenses and accompanying second-generation or 2G spectrum at below-market rates to companies who allegedly paid him kickbacks. Mr Raja has been charged with willfully ignoring advice to auction spectrum -which would have earned the government much more revenue. In his defence, Mr Raja has said that he chose simply to follow the policies of his predecessors, including those in the BJP-led NDA regime, which was voted out in 2004, when Dr Singh's government came to power.
Dr Singh and others in the government have said that the first-come-first-serve policy that was sanctioned for use in 2008 was not the problem. Instead, it was Mr Raja's twisted implementation that allowed companies he collaborated with to jump to the head of the queue to grab licenses. But the BJP says that records suggest then Finance Minister P Chidambaram preferred an auction. The Opposition wants to know why he changed his mind.
The 2G scam is being investigated by the CBI and is being closely monitored by the Supreme Court. "The matters in court are best left for court to decide," said the PM this morning.
But the PM, says the Opposition, was not unaware of Mr Raja's intent or actions. It has referred to a noting in a government file which says the Prime Minister's Office is to be kept "at arm's length." This, claims the BJP, shows the PM knew of how Mr Raja was bending the rules.
In a clarification issued yesterday, the Prime Minister's Office said that the remark is being misinterpreted. Dr Singh simply wanted to share "informal suggestions" with the departments concerned - including the Telecom Ministry and the government's regulatory arm on telecom TRAI.
(Read: PMO on 'Arm's length' comment)The BJP today also blamed the PM for "spoiling the atmosphere" of this parliament session by stating yesterday that the Opposition too has "many skeletons in its cupboard." Ms Swaraj and Mr Jaitley described his remark as "unprovoked and ill-advised."
They also said this was the PM's way of "sidetracking the issue" because he is "faced with several questions because of recent disclosures relating to the allotment of 2G spectrum and he does not have replies."