After the Left parties and the BJP, the Samajwadi Party on Wednesday said it will bring a cut motion on the Union Budget that may put to test the strength of the ruling UPA coalition in the Lok Sabha.
The SP said it expected other opposition parties like the BJP to support its move.
It also said the Nuclear Liability Bill had several loopholes and therefore it should be whetted by a select committee with representatives from all parties before it is introduced in Parliament.
“Despite our repeated pleas, the government has failed to reduce fertilizer prices. Apart from this, the government has raised petrol and diesel prices. Thus, we are left with no option but to introduce a cut motion on the Finance Bill,” the party’s national spokesperson Mohan Singh told reporters.
He said due to the hike in fertiliser prices, which will come into effect from April 1, farmers will have to pay 10 per cent more.
“We expect other parties, especially the BJP, to support our cut motion. It (the BJP) is also planning to introduce a cut motion against increase in petrol and diesel prices and we are supporting its move. Therefore, we are hoping that BJP will also back us,” he said.
The government could be in trouble if the entire opposition including Samajwadi party, the BSP and the RJD, who now back it from outside, come together and back the cut motions.
The new found unity in the opposition at the time of presentation of the Budget was broken when the government brought in the Women’s Reservation Bill on which major opposition parties BJP and Left backed the government.
The passage of the Budget in the second half of the Budget session of Parliament next month will also show whether the opposition will be united against the government.
In his reply to the general discussion on the Budget, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had ruled out rollback of hike in prices of petroleum products, a demand which was also voiced by UPA’s major constituents — the Trinamool Congress and the DMK.
The entire opposition had walked out at the time of the Budget presentation in protest against these proposals.
