Cold war in Cong hits Broadcast Bill

NEW DELHI, November 16: The fate of the long awaited Broadcasting Bill has now got linked to shenanigans inside the Congress party, and it ...

NEW DELHI, November 16: The fate of the long awaited Broadcasting Bill has now got linked to shenanigans inside the Congress party, and it is not likely to come in the winter session of Parliament, despite Jaipal Reddy’s incorrigible optimism.

But the Information and Broadcasting Minister plans to put in place the Prasar Bharati Board and Centre for Policy Research Director Pai Panandiker has reportedly been appointed as the third member of the selection committee along with the Vice President and the chairman of the Press Council of India.Curiously, Sharad Pawar, who is heading the Joint Select Committee of Parliament which is looking into the proposals in the draft bill, cancelled the meetings which were scheduled for latter half of October. Instead two days were allotted in November, on the 17th and 18th, to complete the clause by clause discussions, which is not humanly possible.

In any case, it is uncertain that the Congress and the BJP will alllow Parliament to transact business in view of the standoff on the Jain Commission Report.

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Having facilitated the appointment of Sharad Pawar as the chairman of the parliamentary committee which is examining the Bill to regulate the functioning of private channels, domestic and foreign, the Congress High Command decided to clip his wings by appointing a party sub-committee to formulate the Congress’ approach. There is no love lost between Kesri and Pawar though the Maratha leader, having burnt his fingers in the AICC presidential poll, has been lying low.

Most members in the Congress sub-committee, barring Pawar and Manmohan Singh, are opposed to foreign equity. As a result, the party is still to formulate its position. V N Gadgil has been opposed to foreign equity, and is now joined by Jitendra Prasada and Pranab Mukherji. Even former I&B minister K P Singh Deo is with the latter group. Party chief Sitaram Kesri has not declared his opinion, though he attended one meeting recently.The lack of agreement within parties, particularly within the Congress, is only one reason why Pawar will find it difficult to evolve a consensus between parties. Jaswant Singh in the BJP and K R Malkani are also learnt to be against foreign participation. The Bharatiya Janata Party explored the possibility of making a distinction between allowing foreign participation in hardware and software but concluded that it was unnecessary to do so. The BJP may be prepared to settle finally for 25 per cent participation to foreign companies.