The Opposition on Thursday took the Government to task for the ‘‘hollow list’’ of achievements provided by it in President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s address to the joint sitting of Parliament. Leader of Opposition Manmohan Singh said: ‘‘The Government has taken the economy to the precarious pre-1991 stage in terms of fiscal and revenue deficit.’’ He said, the actual expenditure in 2001-02 was Rs. 57,000 crore against the allocation of Rs. 62,000 crore. While the President’s address talked about avoiding a repeat of the communal violence in Gujarat, Singh attacked the BJP for exploiting the communally sensitive Ayodhya issue and encouraging the VHP and the Bajrang Dal for creating a charged environment in UP, Rajasthan, MP and Gujarat. PARLIAMENT NOTEBOOK V-P’s roll call RS chairperson Bhairon Singh Shekhawat has picked up where he left off in the winter session. Having enforced rare discipline in that session, on Thursday he sought to chastise industrialist-MP R.P. Goenka. The MP was complaining about an inadequate response from minister to his question. Shekhawat promptly remarked: ‘‘He would not reply because you were absent yesterday, that too during the drought debate.’’ Goenka apologised. Word processor Who coined the words Bharatvanshi, Lokayukta and Lokpal? The ‘secret’ was revealed by the man himself: L.M. Singhvi. Singhvi said 40 yrs ago, he had suggested to the PM the merits of having an ombudsman, only to be told that he had better come up with Hindi word. He obliged. He would be well advised to offer his services to the Upper House now. Deputy Chairperson Najma Heptulla pulled up RS translators for not providing adequate Hindi translation during the debate on motion of thanks on the President’s address. ‘‘Translation in Hindi is very poor,’’ was her verdict. Govt to ‘test’ Opp unity NEW DELHI: In a move that could be a test of the Opposition unity, the Government has decided to hold an all-party meeting on the contentious Women’s Reservation Bill to reach a consensus on the matter. The Bill proposes to reserve 33 per cent of seats in Parliament and state legislators. The Government has timed it at a time when the Opposition has regrouped after spending a while in the wilderness since the well-attended dinner at the resident of the Congress president Sonia Gandhi on February 16. With diverse opinions in the parties on the matter, the Congress faces the daunting task of getting a consensus. The Opposition may hold a meeting on February 25 over the issue. Opp walkout over POTA NEW DELHI: The Opposition staged a walkout in the Lok Sabha on Thursday to register its protest against a dissatisfactory Government response to its concern over the misuse of POTA in Uttar Pradesh and other states. Raising the issue during zero hour, Ramji Lal Suman of the Samajwadi Party accused the Mayawati government in UP of ‘‘large-scale misuse’’ of the legislation and demanded its review. After members cited instances of people being booked under POTA without any justification, Minister of State for Home Harin Pathak said the Government would seek detailed information from the states regarding the arrests made under POTA. Dissatisfied with the reply, the entire Opposition, with the exception of the AIADMK, trooped out of the House. Earlier, Speaker Manohar Joshi rejected SP’s notice of adjournment motion on the ‘‘misuse of POTA’’ by UP and some other state governments.
