Oppn for company

Speeches of leaders are prepared at the behest of the Ministry of External Affairs.

While Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to meet his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines of UN General Assembly late next month,senior leaders of the BJP,which has opposed this meeting,will also be present at the UN around that time. Arun Jaitley, Murli Manohar Joshi and Yashodhara Raje are likely to be nominated by the party to go to the UNGA this year. L K Advanis speech at the UNGA last year had been much talked about back home as the BJP patriarch had praised the rural employment guarantee scheme in India. Opposition leaders had then pointed out that speeches of leaders are prepared at the behest of the Ministry of External Affairs and that the party,anyway,does not believe in airing political differences back home from international fora.

EXPERT ADVICE

Shortly after Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar adjourned the House after announcing the suspension of 12 Lok Sabha MPs for disrupting the proceedings,the four suspended TDP MPs were heard discussing whether to remain in the House or leave it immediately. RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav decided to offer them an advice. In his trademark style,he told them to not worry because this suspension will be hailed as an act of sacrifice by them and they should immediately proceed to their constituencies to leverage it ahead of elections. You have been suspended. This is a sacrifice8230;you go,people will uthaa lega hathon haath, Prasad said.

DEFENCE PRIORITY

As Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav Friday walked up to the Opposition benches in Lok Sabha to talk to L K Advani,Sushma Swaraj and Murli Manohar Joshi,all eyes were riveted at them. It emerged later that Mulayan Singh Yadav was expressing his dissatisfaction with the BJPs obsession with Pakistan. The former defence minister was learnt to have told them that Pakistan is less of a worry for India and asserted that it was China of which the country should be wary of.

COMPROMISE FORMULA

The suspension of 12 Andhra Pradesh MPs from the Congress and the TDP was necessitated after the Telugu Desam Party turned down a compromise formula proposed by the government. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath had approached the TDP and mooted the idea of setting up an all-party panel to look into the concerns of Seemandhra MPs to diffuse the standoff in Parliament over creation of Telangana. With the TDP putting a spanner in the government plans,the issue was taken up at the all-party meeting convened by Speaker Meira Kumar.

It was learnt that opposition leaders,including Sharad Yadav,made it clear at the meeting Friday morning that while they were opposed to a government-sponsored resolution for suspension,they would have no problem if the Speaker herself named them. The government readily agreed to it.