Javed M Ansari

New Delhi: The Indo-US nuclear deal is not likely to be debated in Parliament in a hurry. Officially the UPA government is maintaining that it is ready for a debate on the issue at any time specified by the Speaker. But in reality the possibility of an early debate appears dim. The picture will become clear after the UPA-Left meeting on November 16.

Parliamentary affairs minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi said on Wednesday a debate in the earlier stages of the session would be difficult as the Prime Minister, the external affairs minister and the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha had other prior engagements.

Manmohan Singh will travel to Singapore on November 19 for a state visit and later to Uganda to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit. Foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee will be away for three days from November 19 onwards to attend the CHOGM foreign ministers meet. Even leader of the Opposition LK Advani will be away on November 21.

What the government has left unsaid is the fact that there appears to be a trade-off between the UPA and the Left parties on the Nandigram issue.

The Lok Sabha speaker has already announced that the nuclear issue will be taken up as a short duration discussion, which does not entail voting. Apart from the nuclear deal, the Left wants a discussion on a number of issues. These include price rise, Tehelka expose on Gujarat riots, developments in south Asian and neighbouring countries. They want the external affairs minister to make a statement on the happenings in these countries and what is the government’s stand on the matter.

The NDA, on the other hand, is all set to rock proceedings in both the Houses on the Nandigram issue. The party has already given notices to move an adjournment motion on the subject to Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chaterjee. The issue was taken up at a lunch hosted by Chatterjee for leaders of various political parties.

BJP spokesperson Sushma Swaraj said the Opposition NDA would raise the issue soon after both Houses of Parliament begin proceedings on Friday morning. “The CPI (M) is suffering from kindergarten revolutionary behaviour in Nandigram.”

Source : DNA