UPA is playing opposition to Opp, gagging us, says NDA

Speaking in the Lok Sabha, Naidu said the ‘‘hostile attitude’’ of the government towards the opposition was ‘‘most deplorable’’ and urged the UPA to treat the opposition ‘‘like friends and not enemies.’’

Earlier, Speaker Somnath Chatterjee read out a written statement expressing his ‘‘deep sense of disappointment’’ at the Opposition’s boycott decision and asserting that he had been requesting them to participate in the proceedings ‘‘almost every day’’ since the start of the boycott.

On the opposition’s criticism yesterday that he had only written to the NDA chairman and not to the Prime Minister to resolve the impasse, Chatterjee said, ‘‘I feel it will be an unwarranted exercise of power of the Speaker if he meddles into the political affairs or the political formulations of any party or group of parties and seek to intervene.’’

Said Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee: ‘‘We do not consider the NDA as enemy.’’ Pointing out the political divergences were inevitable and must be respected, he appealed to the opposition to lift the boycott.

However, the NDA—particularly the BJP—was in no mood to relent. BJP spokesperson Sushma Swaraj said not only was the government not making any ‘‘constructive efforts’’ to reach out to the opposition but it was actually ‘‘rubbing salt in our wounds.’’

The Prime Minister’s statement today in Rajya Sabha which was a ‘‘selective’’ presentation of facts, the false allegation that a BJP member had signed the RS register, the jibes about Opposition MPs boycotting the House but ‘‘eating’’ in Central Hall were cited by Swaraj as examples of the ‘‘salt’’ being rubbed on opposition wounds.

At the BJP parliamentary party meeting today, two important decisions were taken, Swaraj said. First, all party MPs had been asked to return to their constituencies and given booklets (containing various NDA statements since the boycott began) to explain to the people why they were forced to boycott parliament.

Second, since the government was ‘‘taking advantage’’ of the opposition’s absence to make ‘‘false allegations’’ against ministers in the NDA government, the BJP had decided to give the ‘‘true picture’’ at their daily press briefings every afternoon, she said.

To that end, former disinvestment minister Arun Shourie was fielded today to counter charges made in the Lok Sabha yesterday on his role in the sale of the Juhu Centaur Hotel.

In a 20-page booklet called ‘‘Why the Boycott?’’, released today, the BJP said: ‘‘The UPA allowed the situation to drift to such a pass that its constituents, like the Congress, RJD and others started indulging in opposing the Opposition, ruling party trying to play the role of opposition to the Opposition. They did not allow the Opposition to perform its duty in the House to present its point of view. They created disorder preventing important opposition leaders from expressing their opinion.’’