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| MPs bitterly opposed to each other on the eve of monsoon session but for better pay | | | ABID SHAH
early times report
NEW DELHI, July 25: The monsoon session of Parliament beginning tomorrow has among other things belied the expectations about a Cabinet reshuffle. Normally, this takes place in case it is required before the session. Instead, now it holds a promise for MPs vis-à-vis a hike in their emoluments.
Though as per expectations this could go up to Rs 80,000 a month from present Rs 16,000, the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs PK Bansal today declined to specify the amount which may be in store for members as salary.
In any case the hike for MPs is going to be substantial and members from both the Treasury and Opposition benches howsoever bitterly opposed are going to be not only unanimous on this but would also be guided by the more the merrier dictum. They would, indeed, not like to be grudged on this since the quantum of Government servants' salaries has steeply been upped by the last pay panel. This is significant since the MPs on the two sides have seldom before turned out to be as completely averse to each other as is the case now. Just a few days ago the top leaders of the main Opposition party, the BJP, had stayed away from the customary lunch hosted by Prime Minister. And today Manmohan Singh did not attend Speaker Meira Kumar's lunch for the leaders of all the parties. She said that the Prime Minister was slightly unwell and so he could not come for the lunch.
Behind such face off between the BJP and Congress are the events of past few days in Gujarat which led to the arrest of the State Home Minister Amit Shah in the case related to the encounter of Sohrabuddin Sheikh which is being investigated by CBI. This has been setting the battle lines between the Opposition and the ruling alliance on the one hand and blurring them on the other since this is going to divide the Opposition after the BJP and the Left parties came together on July 5 to hold a countrywide strike against price rise.
It is not just that the Opposition is going to be divided through the monsoon session that is slated to go from tomorrow to until August 27 there are also signs of discord, or at least lack of unanimity, within the ruling coalition. Among other things this has aborted a possible Cabinet reshuffle. Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had recently visited Chennai to discuss with DMK higher ups about a change in the portfolio of Union Minister for Telecom A Raja since he was going to be targeted by Opposition for what is known as 2 G Spectrum scam but obviously the DMK chief M Karunanidhi did not agree for this.
Similarly, no decision could be taken about Sharad Pawar and Mamata Banerjee who wanted to lighten their burden though for different reasons. And within the Congress a turf war has been going on between different Ministers for one reason or the other. So much so that Union Home Minister P Chidambaram has only the other day said that he would be happy if someone could do his work better than him.
Amid such acrimony at various levels Parliament is going to meet. And thus there can be little hope of any worthwhile deliberations to find a way out from the problems that dog Jammu and Kashmir besides those posed by Naxalites in other States. A host of important bills like food security bill await members nod. But sadly there is little hope since personal and party stakes may well overshadow the proceedings through the month-long session. |
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