Ahead of the Budget session of Parliament beginning today, the Opposition has its strategy ready. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) met on Sunday and drew up its plan to target the government which is already weakened after the election results.
"We have two important issues. One is Congress' attitude of usurping states' powers. The second is in case of issues like National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), Railway Protection Force Act (RPF), Lokayukta Bill and practically every bill of the HRD ministry," said BJP leader Prakash Javedekar after an NDA meet at senior BJP leader LK Advani's house.
"The NCTC issue will be crucial. It is against the federal structure of the nation," said Sitaram Yechury, CPM Leader.
One of the main opponents against the anti-terror body has been the Trinamool Congress which met on Saturday to discuss their strategy ahead of Budget session. While Mamata Banerjee has assured the government, she will not rock the boat, opposition leaders hinted they would reach out to her and other United Progressive Alliance (UPA) allies on the issue of federalism. Congress leaders, however, maintained all is well and they've reached out to all their allies.
"I had a conversation with Mamata Banerjee for almost 40 minutes. We have nothing against Mamata Banerjee, she is a very strong ally of the UPA and yesterday (on Saturday) too she said that I am strongly with the UPA government," said Shakeel Ahmed, Congress Leader.
The UPA government is not going to have an easy time. With a weakened position after the recently concluded assembly elections, they also have to counter attacks of Foreign Direct Investment in retail and price rise.
"The election mandate should tell the Congress that people are not in favour of its anti-people policies and they should not push for such agenda," said Brinda Karat, CPI(M) Leader.
It's not just a belligerent Opposition that the Congress has to battle; the buzz around the formation of a third front is also gaining momentum.
The winter session of Parliament was one of the least productive ever, but the government and the Opposition both blamed each other for the disruptions. It remains to be seen if this session proves to be a little better.
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