New Delhi: Clearing the air on coordination among opposition parties in Parliament, BJP on Wednesday said the NDA had reached an understanding with the Left parties on supporting each other unconditionally on issues of price rise and Indian Black money stashed abroad.
Both the Left parties and the BJP will again move an adjournment motion in Lok Sabha on Thursday on issues of price rise and black money. A similar motion, demanding suspension of Question Hour to discuss these two issues, will also be moved by the two in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
This is likely to lead to disruptions and adjournments of the two Houses on Thursday as well. Two days of the winter session have been spent without any transaction of business.
Similar motions on the same issues were moved by the Left parties and the BJP on Wednesday in both Houses of Parliament. BSP, which gives outside support to the UPA government, had also moved the same motions on price rise in both Houses on Wednesday.
Asked if BJP-led NDA would support the Left parties even if the latter agree to a debate on price rise without voting (under Rule 193), Deputy Leader of BJP in Rajya Sabha SS Ahluwalia said, "The Left parties will move the motion on price rise. If they concede and agree for a debate without voting we have no objection."
The BJP expects similar support from the Left on the issue of Black money, an issue the party wants to rake up further after its leader LK Advani undertook a 38-day yatra across the country to highlight it.
"We are standing in support with the Left so that there is no breach in opposition unity," Ahluwalia said.
BJP sources maintained that the price rise issue is as dear to the party as to the Left, it agreed to support the latter as it is moving the adjournment motion on black money.
This opposition unity does not augur well for the government which is desperate to run the two Houses smoothly so that several pending Bills can be passed.
BJP quashed rumours that the government had reached out to it on Wednesday to end the stalemate in Parliament. Sources said the government had held a luncheon meeting with the Left parties yesterday but since the latter got no assurance on holding the price rise debate under Rule 184 (which entails voting) till late evening, it forced an adjournment on Wednesday.
Ahluwalia said the opposition wanted a debate on price rise though the issue has been discussed in Parliament earlier too as the government had failed in its promise made in the last session that it will take effective steps to check spiralling costs of commodities.
"Now Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has accepted that there has been a mistake in making estimates and the government has failed in controlling prices," Ahluwalia said.
Similarly, on the issue of Black money the BJP leader said since France has recently shared with our government the names of Indian foreign account holders, it is important to discuss the matter and press for making these names public.
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