At a meeting of floor leaders of the National Democratic Alliance parties on Tuesday, it was decided to take the 2G spectrum issue to the streets.
BJP's S.S. Ahluwalia said they would like to invite “all Opposition parties” to participate in rallies in major cities. Although the Left had indicated it would not like to share a platform with the BJP, Mr. Ahluwalia saw no reason for them to say “no” if they wanted Opposition unity.
The BJP Parliamentary Party also discussed the issue on Tuesday. Ms. Swaraj later said only a JPC would be able to hold the government accountable. And if past JPCs did not yield any positive results, as the government was arguing, why not strike out the rule from parliamentary procedure?
At the start of the winter session, the BJP agreed that Parliament must function smoothly, especially question hour, Ms. Swaraj said. On day one, it desisted from disrupting question hour but even after the Speaker gave her permission to speak during zero hour, it was Congressmen, including Ministers, who started heckling the moment she used the word ‘corruption.'
“How will they listen patiently to a debate when they cannot bear to hear the word corruption in government?” The Congress was to blame for the falling apart of the agreement on a smooth session, she said. “After all, we had said we wanted a discussion on 2G and on other subjects such as Kashmir.”
