Debate on N-deal in Rajya Sabha today

The move to push the debate ahead, which otherwise was slated for next week, came amidst speculation that the government was contemplating sine die adjournment of the House in the light of the BJP refusal to allow Parliament to run. The contention in party circles was that the government would be saved of any charges from the opposition that it wanted to shy away from a debate, once it had made the formal move for a discussion in the House.

Government managers indicated that notices had already been made to the chairman of the Rajya Sabha for a short-term discussion on the nuclear issue on Thursday. The debate in the Lok Sabha, on the other hand, has been scheduled for Monday. ??We are ready for the debate. But the Opposition has to allow the House to run,?? external affairs minister and leader of the Lok Sabha Pranab Mukherjee told reporters, referring to the repeated adjournment of the two Houses in the current session.

Mukherjee, who met leader of Opposition LK Advani as well as his colleague Jaswant Singh, said the goverment was for a debate at the earliest opportunity and has suggested these dates. On the Opposition demand for a JPC, he said the government had already rejected the proposal on the floor of the House.

Protesting against the setting up of the UPA-Left Committee, the opposition parties disrupted both Houses of Parliament demanding its scrapping and constitution of a JPC. The government, Mukherjee, said was ready for a dialogue with the Opposition on the deal.

The NDA, however, will not allow a debate in Parliament on N-deal on Thursday, as it claimed that nothing less than JPC will serve the purpose.

Addressing a joint press conference of NDA constituents here on Wednesday, leader of Opposition LK Advani said, there would be no meaning of any debate in Parliament on the nuclear deal, when the government has constituted a mechanism outside Parliament.