President unhappy as budget is held up

Narayanan also spoke to Andhra Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, asking him to prevail upon his MPs not to create further hurdles in the passage of the Budget.

He is reported to have talked to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha also to take effective steps. The President is of the opinion that the forum of Lok Sabha is not available for any other purpose other than the one for which it had been summoned.

According to indications available tonight, the Budget would not be passed by the Lok Sabha tomorrow irrespective of political differences and by the Rajya Sabha also. The President was unhappy that the government failed to meet its obligation and wanted that his directive be followed by it.

Though Atal Behari Vajpayee and Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha had assured Narayanan this morning that the Budget would be passed, what happened during the day in the Lok Sabha made the President extremely unhappy.

So disturbed was the President that he summoned the Finance Minister again and the Parliamentary Affairs Minister to Rashtrapati Bhawan this evening and wanted that the Presidential directive should be implemented in letter and spirit.

He was dismayed to learn that after giving him a commitment, it was the BJP and its allies who prevented the House from transacting financial business and the budget was not even taken up for consideration.

The special session was called on his directions to approve the financial business following the fall of the Vajpayee Government on Saturday last. Kumaramangalam is understood to have pointed out that the government was keen to pass the Budget. But the Congress had indulged in horse-trading in order to muster a majority. The way three members of the Congress Working Committee produced one Telugu Desam MP at their party headquarter was a mockery of the parliamentary democracy.

The BJP leaders also wondered how Congress president Sonia Gandhi could claim that she had the support of 272 MPs and would get more MPs to back the party when they had submitted a list of 270 MPs supporting the Vajpayee Government.

However, the President firmly told the Union Ministers to ensure the passage of the Budget because the House had been summoned for the specific purposes. If the Anti-Defection Law is being violated, there are proper forums for its redressal. But the country couldn’t be held to ransom. He had to start the process of alternative government after the fall of a government and unless the Budget is passed, the process would come to a standstill.

Earlier in the day, the Lok Sabha was adjourned thrice when BJP and its allies trooped into the well shouting slogans against the Congress for indulging in horse-trading of MPs.

They raised slogans like ”horse-trading bandh karo, bandh karo” and “videshi neta, videshi paisa nahi chalega”. As the pandemonium continued, the Speaker adjourned the House. When the House reassembled at 1145 hrs, the BJP and its allies trooped into the well and stalled the proceedings. Deputy Speaker P M Sayeed who was in the chair, adjourned the House till 1230 hrs. When the House reassembled at 1230 hrs, members of the BJP and its allies trooped into the well again forcing another adjournment for the day.