Brinda Karat makes Pranab see red

Days after he engaged in a verbal duel with BJP members in the Lok Sabha,Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday lost his temper in the Rajya Sabha at CPMs Brinda Karat.

Mukherjee,once a close friend of the Left,was agitated by Karats interruptions while he was replying to a question on price rise. He protested about the disturbances and then snapped at Karat: Please dont show your temper in the House. Show your temper somewhere else. I am not yielding.

The Finance Minister stood his ground while Karats party colleagues continued to make some feeble noises. Mukherjee also had some strong words for Karats party colleague Tapan Sen,who opposed disinvestment and accused the government of paving the way for creeping privatisation of public sector units.

Mukherjee bluntly told Sen that the government had the right and authority to decide policies that it felt was in the best interests of the country. Taking a swipe at the Left,he said,If you come tomorrow with 272 seats in the Lok Sabha,you will be fully entitled to do whatever you like to do.

He also rebutted Sens observation that the government was going ahead with disinvestment as soon as it was relieved from the bondage of the Left support. I do not consider that there was any bondage of the Left parties,he said and contended that as many as seven public sector enterprises were disinvested during UPA-I. He added: If you want the list,I can give the list.

In fact,Mukherjee was not the only minister who lost his temper. During Question Hour,his Cabinet colleague and Rural Development Minister C P Joshi also engaged in an argument with Opposition members.

What ticked off the Opposition was Joshis repeated references to the Congress manifesto while replying to a question on fixing Rs 100 as minimum wage for works done under the NREGS. Opposition members from both the BJP and Left questioned the mention of the Congress manifesto.

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At one point,Chairman Hamid Ansari intervened to remind that the question relates to a national scheme of the government but Joshi refused to relent and attacked the Opposition benches. It is my partys commitment,not your partys commitment. It is my partys commitment to the people of the country, he said.

Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley took objection to Joshis statement and said the minister was answering the question as though he was addressing a street meeting on behalf of the party. BJP members Venkaiah Naidu and Najma Heptullah also sought an apology from the minister.