Enjoying the discomfiture of the Congress-led UPA regime over the nuclear crisis, the main Opposition NDA and the Third Front are attempting to fish in troubled waters with the latter cosying up to the Left and the BJP assessing options of moving a no-confidence motion against the government.
On Sunday, TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu and SP leader Amar Singh spoke to CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat?clearly a move to keep lines of communication open in the event that the UPA government collapsed. While discussing the political situation with Karat, the two leaders extended support to the Left in opposing the nuclear deal.
In the meanwhile, the BJP stepped up its offensive against the ruling coalition and said it would up the ante in Parliament. A two-hour long meeting at former Atal Bihari Vajpayee?s residence was held to decide on the party?s strategy. Party leaders, however, contended that there was no formal discussion at the meeting on scope of moving a no-confidence motion against the government.
The BJP that attempted to rope in Left support last week against the deal with leader of Opposition LK Advani speaking to Prakash Karat, on Sunday, trained its guns on them too. It said that both the UPA and the Left had failed to observe ?coalition dharma?, which has led to a complete ?paralysis? of ?governance? in the country. Party general secretary Arun Jaitley said after the meeting, ?Governance in the country has completely been paralysed and authority of the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been eroded.? A meeting of NDA leaders is scheduled for Monday morning to discuss strategy in Parliament vis-a-vis the deal. ?Any further decision on the issue would be taken by the NDA, which would discuss its strategy in tomorrow?s meeting,? BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said.