After having worked overtime to force forward movement in the nuclear deal, the UPA is now apprehensive that the winter session of Parliament beginning Thursday may get waylaid by the Nandigram issue in West Bengal with a charged Opposition BJP steadfast on forcing the issue to embarrass both the Centre and the CPI(M).

Government managers are further worried that a Left move to rake up the Tehelka issue to counter the BJP focus on Nandigram could prove counter-productive and result in polarisation of the electorate in Gujarat, which goes to polls in the second week of December. ??We will try to convince the Left that raising Tehelka will go to the advantage of Narendra Modi in Gujarat?? a senior minister said on Wednesday. He said a meeting was planned on Thursday morning for better floor co-ordination between UPA partners as well as the Left.

The BJP gameplan to let the focus on Nandigram was evident at a meeting of party leaders convened by Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Wednesday. Refusing to concede to the CPI(M) objection that the violence in West Bengal was a law and order issue relating to the state, the saffron party contended that ??slaughter of protesting peasants?? in the process of acquisition of land for SEZ could not be dubbed as a state issue.

The party has already given notice for discussions on the issue to the presiding officers of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha under rules 193 and 176 respectively.

However, as a precaution, the BJP will be giving notices seeking discussion on SEZs and land acquisition. ??At a meeting with Speaker on Wednesday, which was attended by leaders of all the parties, our deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Vijay Kumar Malhotra made it clear that BJP would like to have discussion on Nandigram first before any other issue is taken up,?? senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj said adding that he also made it clear that it’s not just a law and order issue??.

Both the CPI(M) as well as the CPI have given separate notices to discuss the recent expose by Tehelka implicating BJP leaders and workers in the post-Godhra riots.

On the part of the government, parliamentary affairs minister PR Dasmunsi said on Wednesday the UPA was ready for an early discussion on the nuclear deal but the earliest it could be held was on December 19 and 20.

The BJP, however, is not willing to let go of the opportunity to embarrass the Centre and the Left Front government on Nandigram. Dragging the Centre in on the issue, Sushma Swaraj demanded if the Centre would allow similar type of operation in other 150 districts affected by the Naxal violence? ??The silence on the part of Centre is not only unfortunate, but dangerous given the country?s internal security scenario,?? she said.

Criticising the CPI(M)-led Left front government, Swaraj lamented West Bengal chief minister Budhadeb Bhattacharjee?s statement that his government succeeded in ?recapturing? Nandigram from the ?clutches of Maoists? and said, ??the chief minister’s language is the language of an out law.??

The main opposition has also identified nuclear deal, Ram Setu, FDI in retail, terrorists influence in capital market and minimum support price for paddy for raising during the session that would conclude on December 7.