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Sidelights of the Nuclear Debate in Indian
Parliament
Jailbirds save
day for UPA govt
Jailbirds were
the cynosure of all eyes in Lok Sabha as the House on Monday took up
the debate on the trust vote with every single member becoming
crucial for the nail-biting contest.
As Rajesh Ranjan
alias Pappu Yadav and Mohd Shahabuddin -- both MPs of RJD came out
of jail and reached the Parliament House to participate in the
confidence vote, camera persons jostled with each other to click the
duo.
Similarly, Ateeq
Ahmed, Samajwadi Party member from Phulpur, was in media spotlight
as also Suraj Bhan of LJP as they entered Parliament.
The LJP MP from
Bihar
walked hand in hand with his Lok Sabha party colleague Ram Chandra
Paswan, brother of Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan.
What the hell is
this deal-sheel?
A rebel
Samajwadi Party MP had his own reasons for voting against the
government in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. "I have not understood what
the deal is all about. Though I listened very attentively to the
debate throughout yesterday, I could not make any head or tail out
of it," Ateeq Ahmed made a candid admission before the media. Ahmed,
an MP from Phulpur, had come out of jail to vote on the confidence
motion.
Udit Raj asked
Dalit MPs to oppose Maya
The Indian
Justice Party headed by former bureaucrat Dr Udit Raj made a fervent
appeal to all dalit MPs to vote in favour of the UPA government and
prevent BSP president Mayawati from becoming Prime Minister. Lok
Sabha has 119 dalits MPs.
"Dalit MPs must
oppose the stand that Ms Mayawati has taken and save the UPA
government. Ms Mayawati is one leader who has consistently worked
against the interests of dalits. She has not allowed any other dalit
to emerge as a leader and has ensured that the rights of dalits are
cut down," he said.
The IJP shief
added that Ms Mayawati had amassed a huge amount of wealth for
herself and had done nothing substantial for the deprived and
downtrodden sections of the society.
Somnath future
Cong liaison?
The CPI(M) is
now looking beyond the trust vote. Jyoti Basu has managed to
convince the
Bengal
lobby in the central committee to allow Somnath Chatterjee as the
"future liaison" between the Congress and Left in a post-election
scenario to keep "communal forces" at bay. The party has decided to
keep channels of communication with the Congress open after the
elections. Chatterjee is expected to play that role.
With both Jyoti
Basu and Harkishen Singh Surjeet out of active politics, Basu sees a
vital role for Chatterjee and Sitaram Yechury in cobbling up a
coalition with the Congress when the time comes. It is an open
secret that the party is extremely worried about losing face over
siding with BJP to oust the Congress.
IAEA may accept
pact unanimously
The IAEA board
of governors is likely to adopt an India-specific safeguards
agreement on August 1 but it is not clear if it would be adopted
unanimously. European Union (EU) members on the IAEA board have
demanded another formal briefing by IAEA. Seven of the 27 EU member
states are on the IAEA board of governors.
India's Foreign
secretary Shivshankar Menon on Friday briefed the members of the
IAEA board and certain NSG countries in Vienna. Menon met the IAEA
director-general Mohamed ElBaradei too.
23
July, 2008
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