The Bharatiya Janata Party has sought time from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss with him the volatile Kashmir situation.
Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday said the party had sent for all its 11 MLAs from the State and would hold a meeting with them on Thursday before meeting the Prime Minister. “We have asked for time. Hopefully, some time on Thursday we will meet him,” she told journalists here.
BJP parliamentary party chairman L.K. Advani and leaders of the Opposition in the two Houses Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, along with the MLAs, all from the Jammu region, plan to meet the Prime Minister.
After Home Minister P. Chidambaram made a statement in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, Mr. Advani demanded that the House discuss the grave situation in Kashmir. Earlier, Ms. Swaraj told journalists that the party would ask for a discussion on this sensitive matter.
Bhopal gas leak
On the Bhopal gas tragedy, Opposition parties, cutting across the lines, have agreed on a short-duration discussion.
At a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee of the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, the BJP agreed to withdraw its notice for a substantive discussion under Rule 184 with a vote as there was a general consensus that it be taken up under Rule 193, which does not entail a vote.
The time for the discussion is yet to be fixed. It is likely next week, when a full-fledged discussion on the reported corruption in building infrastructure for the Commonwealth Games is also expected to be taken up.
