Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury had a chance encounter near one of the exits in Parliament. Yechury, always quick to rise to the occasion, urged the Prime Minister to ?clear the air on 2G spectrum and the Supreme Court?s comments?. The latter smiled and said that he would. Both had watched the two Houses of Parliament being adjourned for the day for the second week, following the revelations in various corruption scams.
Yechury?s was one of the more polite inquiries today as the Prime Minister?s Office (PMO) has now become a direct target of the Opposition for looking the other way, if not condoning corruption. Yechury?s colleague, Brinda Karat, said, ?this is the first time in the history of independent India that a Prime Minister and his office has been asked for such an explanation by the Apex Court.?
The Opposition?s sustained attack has left the government and the ruling party scrambling for cover. While the action within Parliament ended early, both major alliances, the UPA and NDA, went into separate huddles to strategise.
At 3.30 in the afternoon, the Congress? core committee met to take stock, a rather early meeting by the party?s usual nocturnal timings. Law minister Veerappa Moily was conspicuous by his absence from the meeting, which saw newly appointed telecom minister Kapil Sibal in attendance. The question before them was just how much to concede to the Opposition ? a JPC on telecom and the Commonweath Games (CWG), or just on the CWG, or not at all. In true Congress style, much was discussed and the decision finally put in abeyance, to see just how far the Opposition would hold up. ?We have decided to reach out to the Opposition one more time, to reconsider their demand,? said a senior Congress leader.
One part of the Congress? strategy appears to be to target the Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa and his own land scam in the state, where he denotified Bangalore Development Area (BDA) land and allotted it cheaply to his family members, including his two sons. ?The BJP should clear its own record first. We do not accept the solution that Yeddyurappa returns the land,? said Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari.
As the BJP too called an emergency core group meeting of its top leaders, the Karnataka chief minister rushed to Delhi to gauge his support within the party. He had earlier complained to party chief Nitin Gadkari that certain members of the party, like Ananth Kumar, were conspiring against him in Delhi.
The BJP?s attack on the Congress may appear blunted due to the Karnataka land scam, but it is unlikely that the Opposition, which appears to have tasted blood, would back off anytime soon. The Prime Minister, for long immune from any corruption allegations against his Cabinet colleagues, is in the line of fire, and the Opposition says it wants to hear him defend himself.