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After the Left has set a July 7 deadline for the government to clarify its position on whether it was going ahead on the Indo-US nuclear deal, Congress on Friday sought to reject the deadline. Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi told reporters that Sovereign governments or political parties cannot be subjected to deadlines.

Shighvi told that it is the time to work on triple objectives- to do a nuclear deal in national interest, to carry along our allies with us for that purpose and to go to elections as per the Constitutional schedule. Rejecting suggestions of an “unholy alliance”, Singhvi said, “Samajwadi Party and the Congress have never been mutually untouchable in the same sense as the Left and the BJP or the Congress and the BJP.”

Singhvi said the Congress had not changed its stand on the nuclear deal “by even one millimeter”.  He said that the deal is totally in national interest.

“We are happy that other parties in the national interest are slowly converging to our view point,” he said.

Left is strongly opposing the deal to happen. The party has threatened to withdraw support for the government if it seeks approval for the deal from IAEA, the next international move needed to operationalise the pact.

Yesterday Left parties gave a deadline to the government saying that it must tell by July 7 about its plans towards approaching the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for the safeguards agreement, if any.

“We wish to know definitely whether the government is proceeding to seek the approval of the safeguards agreement by the board of governors of the IAEA,” said Prakash Karat, CPI (M) General Secretary, reading out a letter addressed to the government.

The party said it would launch a national campaign from July 14 to explain its opposition to the nuclear deal and what it called “runaway” inflation.

Tags: BJP, Congress, India, Nuclear deal, Nuke Deal, Samajwadi Party, SP, US

The Election Commission (EC) has issued a notice against Samajwadi Party Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Jaya Bachchan for violating the People’s Representative ACT 1951.

Jaya has not given full details of her property while filing for Rajya Sabha nomination for the by-elections in June 2006. The Principal Secretary of Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha RP Pandey has asked SSP Lucknow Akhil Kumar to register a case against Jaya to file an FIR.

She had concealed facts about a land in Barabanki in the name of her husband Amitabh Bachchan in the affidavit. She had written in her affidavit that the land was 2.8 acres whereas it was 3.2 acres.

EC said her clarifications were not satisfactory and that her affidavit had indeed violated the People’s Representative Act.

Tags: Bachchan, Election Commission, Jaya Bachchan, Samajwadi Party

The opposition NDA’s silent protest against Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee’s recent decision has worked as Chatterjee withdraws the notice referring 32 MPs, mostly from the BJP, to the Privileges Committee for their “unruly behavior”. Please see “Lok Sabha Speaker refers cases of 32 MPs to Privileges Committee!” for more information.

NDA on Monday decided to remain silent in the Lok Sabha for fours days beginning today as they termed this decision unfair. The decision was taken after the Lok Sabha was resumed followed by abrupt adjourn by the speaker till 2 pm today.

The alliance’s leaders had decided to remain silent in the Lok Sabha for fours days beginning today to protest against the decision referring to 32 leaders.

A meeting was held to resolve the issue where Chatterjee reportedly said that he was withdrawing the notice after MPs assured him of smooth conduct of the House.

Opposition leader L K Advani and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee formally urged him to do so and assured the Speaker that the Lower House would function smoothly without any disruptions. Chatterjee, on his part, said that he had taken the decision to refer the MPs to the Privileges Committee to ensure orderly conduct in the House. He also thanked Mukherjee and Advani for the assurance.

The adjournment came as Samajwadi Party leader Ramji Lal Suman sought to raise the issue of controversial anti-North Indian statements made by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray.

TDP leader K Yerrannaidu was also raised the issue of recent fire in the Guntur market, which destroyed produce worth crores of rupees.

Besides upsetting the BJP and its allies like the Shiv Sena, the Speaker`s action had also drawn flak from Samajwadi Party which said the chair was “neither a monarch, nor the members his subjects”.

Shiv Sena, a key constituent of NDA, whose two members have also been proceeded against, said that there was no question of being apologetic about raising a “burning” issue affecting the people.

Repeated disruptions in the House were seen and the immediate provocation was the incidents of April 24, which saw opposition members storming the well shouting slogans without paying heed to the chair.

Tags: Advani, BJP, India, Lok Sacha, NDA, Samajwadi Party, Somnath Chatterjee