New Delhi, August 3
The boycott of Parliamentary Committees by the NDA ended today following an agreement on “give and take” between the Opposition and the ruling UPA coalition after Leader of the Opposition L.K. Advani met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee.
Mr Advani, who announced the decision to end the boycott after a meeting of the NDA leaders this evening, said the agreement to end the stalemate was arrived at a meeting he had with Mr Chatterjee followed by consultations with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in which his ministerial colleagues, including Leader of the Lok Sabha Pranab Mukherjee, was also present.
Mr Advani said as per the formula worked out to end the deadlock, it was agreed that the “controversial” statements made by Mr Mukherjee and BJP Deputy Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Vijay Kumar Malhotra would be withdrawn.
The modalities of the withdrawal of the controversial statements would be gone through in the House when the Lok Sabha resumes the remaining part of the Budget session on August 16, Mr Advani said.
He said Mr Malhotra and Deputy Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Sushma Swaraj would discuss the formalities with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad tomorrow.
The formula marks a compromise by both sides. The NDA had been maintaining that Mr Mukherjee’s statement condemning the Opposition be expunged to facilitate its end of boycott of the Parliamentary Committees.
The ruling alliance had, however, refused to accept this demand.
Mr Advani did not talk to the media immediately after his meetings with Mr Chatterjee and Dr Singh as he wanted approval from the NDA partners on the compromise formula before announcing the end of the boycott.
Meanwhile, BJP sources said soon after the meeting between Mr Advani and Mr Chatterjee, the latter telephoned Mr Malhotra and asked him to give the names of the members of the BJP for various Parliamentary Committees. But, Mr Malhotra politely refused to give the list till the NDA took a stand on ending the row, sources said.
As per the present strength in Parliament, the NDA members could become Chairperson of 12 Standing Committees in the Lok Sabha and three Standing Committees attached to the Rajya Sabha, sources said.
