Even as the Congress came in for severe attack from all sides irrespective of political affiliations on the issue of runaway rise in prices, the Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal chiefs Mulayam Singh and Lalu Prasad sought to charge the Bharatiya Janata Party with weakening Opposition unity and took a dig at JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav for not reforming his senior ally.
During the discussion on price rise, the SP chief said: “If you [the BJP] had not demolished the Masjid we would have been together. There is no unity among us so there is inflation. You are responsible for this too.”
Mr. Lalu Prasad said: “Nothing is possible if there is no unity. Ask them to give up communalism.”
A lone muffled voice from the BJP benches said: “We have.”
Later during his own speech, Mr. Prasad blamed both the Congress and the BJP for the “alarming inflationary situation.”
The former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister's speech was almost some sort of a dialogue with the former Chief Minister of Bihar. He then wondered why the JD(U) chief didn't put in an effort to reform the BJP. “I too could have formed the government but I'll not do so at the cost of principles.” The SP chief raked up the issue of misuse of funds for the Commonwealth Games (CWG) underscoring that it too had added to the price rise problem. “It is their party men [Congress] who are saying it,” Mr. Prasad said.
Mr. Singh charged the government with favouring those who had stashed away their black money in Swiss banks instead of getting it back and easing the inflation situation. “The UPA government will harass me and you [Mr. Prasad] through the CBI for no accountable reason.”
Mr. Singh charged the government with lacking the courage and will power to take action for obvious reasons. “Who are the leaders?” asked Mr. Prasad.
“They'll [government] come out with the names,” Mr. Singh replied. The RJD chief warned him that these people would have withdrawn their money.
Mr. Sharad Yadav said the verbal clash between Commonwealth Games Organising Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi and Congress MP [Mani Shankar Aiyar] only exposed the gross irregularities in the CWG preparations. “Stadia are coming apart and people and buses are falling into ditches in the newly constructed roads.”
