NEW DELHI, MARCH 18: The Vajpayee government faces yet another crisis, this time over its inability to get the Bill on the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) in the Rajya Sabha which will adjourn for a recess on Friday.The Bill which has been passed in the Lok Sabha will lapse if it is not approved by the Upper House by April 4. Though the Rajya Sabha is sitting on Friday when it can take up the Bill, the Opposition armed with a majority in the House is insisting that the government agree to a debate on the Vishnu Bhagwat episode under Rule 170 as a quid pro quo. The Opposition forced an adjournment in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday demanding the setting up of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the Bhagwat episode.The government has so far remained adamant on the demand for a debate on this rule as it involves voting. The Opposition if it minds can embarrass the government by defeating it on this issue.If the Bill is not approved by the Upper House before April 4 (Rajya Sabha adjourns for a recesson Friday and will meet only on April 12), the continuance of the CVC which came into being through an ordinance and has been functioning since will be called into question. The government cannot repromulgate the ordinance during the recess as the session will be in session technically.A meeting of the Business Advisory Committee of the Upper House met this evening but the stalemate was not broken. The government's pleadings with the Congress had little effect. The BJP however was taking some comfort from its reading of the Congress stand which suggested that it would have no objection if the Bill is passed in the din that is expected on Friday.Clearly on the backfoot on this score, Parliamentary Affairs Minister R Kumaramangalam who admitted to the imminent crisis appealed to the Congress and other Opposition parties to ensure the passage of the Bill. But the Congress was in no mood to oblige.Its spokesman Ajit Jogi said that it was not the Opposition's responsibility to get Bills passed. Theco-operation had to be reciprocal, he added. ``We wanted a debate in the Rajya Sabha on the Bhagwat issue under Rule 170. But the government was adamant,'' he said.Kumaramangalam said that if the Bill was not passed, it would send out wrong signals that Parliament was not fulfilling its constitutional obligations. The behaviour of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha where they stalled business again on Thursday, he said, was ``unfortunate and embarassing for all of us.''``I am pained that the party which ruled for so long is doing this and indulging in this kind of pandemonium,'' he said of the Congress.The ruling party's chief whip in the Upper House V K Malhotra said that the Congress should take the blame if the Bill lapsed. ``This is the Congress' ploy to weaken the corruption cases against RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav,'' he remarked.
