Forecast: Stormy session in Delhi

AIADMK chief Jayalalitha, whose support is crucial, has been sniping at the Bharatiya Janata Party for rejecting its demand for the sacking of Karunanidhi regime and has convened a meeting of her party MPs on July 4 to review its stand. The party MPs had staged repeated walkouts during the first stage of the budget session to press their demand.

On the other hand, leaders of opposition parties and groups are expected to initiate steps for floor coordination even as some of the parties like the Samjawadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and the CPIM have been egging on the Congress to take the initiative in bringing down the Vajpayee Government andform an alternative ministry.

With voting on the budgetary demands for grants of all the ministries and the finance bill scheduled later this month, parliamentary managers on the Treasury Benches have a tough task to ensure that government clears a number of budget-related hurdles with ease. The government got the first taste of the Opposition stand, when it was forced to defer introduction of the Constitution Amendment bill providing reservation for 33 per cent seats for women in Parliament and state assemblies by a week. This followed certain 8220;objections8221; raised by the Samajwadi Party on the issue.

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, who had held discussions with leaders of political parties and groups, would be holding another round of talks with them to seek their views afresh on the bill, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Madan Lal Khurana told reporters here. The bill, which was scheduled to be introduced tomorrow, would now be introduced in the second week, he said.

Samajawadi Party leaderMulayam Singh Yadav, who met Vajpayee today, demanded an all-party meeting to discuss the bill before its introduction in the House, Khurana said.

Replying to questions, he said the government was opposed to dilution of the bill. It would welcome suggestions for strengthening it. He reiterated BJP8217;s stand for introduction of the bill in the current session.

Yadav, who led a party delegation to Vajpayee earlier in the day, demanded slashing of the reservation percentage from 33 to 15. He also made clear his party8217;s stand to oppose the women8217;s reservation bill in Parliament if amendments were not made.

Meanwhile, Congress today said it would never bail out the BJP-led coalition which is plagued with internal squables and promised to play the role of an effective Opposition. Party spokesman Salman Khursheed said that the party had not yet decided on moving a cut motion and a decision would be arrived after the meeting with other opposition parties. He reiterated that the Congress would not initiate actionfor fall of the government but at the same time could not help if it fell under its own weight.