Opposition plans to corner Centre on price rise

To corner the Manmohan Singh government in the Budget Session of Parliament, a united opposition today demanded a debate on price rise on February 23, before the Railway Budget and the Union Budget are placed in the Lok Sabha.

The Railway Budget is scheduled for February 24, and the Union Budget for February 26. The session starts on February 22 with President Pratibha Patil's address to both the Houses of Parliament.

At an all-party meeting convened by Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar today, the Bhartiya Janata Party, Left parties, Samajwadi Party and others demanded an early discussion on the rise in prices. In a veiled threat, the leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in the Lok Sabha, Basudeb Acharia, said: "If this issue is not discussed at the earliest opportunity, the House may not run properly."

"The entire opposition agreed that there should be an immediate discussion on price rise on February 23. If the government agrees to this, there will not be any disruption and we can have a proper discussion," the leader of the opposition, Sushma Swaraj, said after the meeting.

The government has not yet committed itself to a discussion on price rise on February 23. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, however, said: "We are ready to discuss all issues in Parliament." The opposition is planning to up the ante and press for an adjournment motion and suspending question hour and other regular business of the House. Trinamool Congress and Dravida Munetra Kazhagam (DMK) - allies of the Congress in the government - also demanded a debate on the price situation. DMK asked the Centre to amend laws to check spiraling prices.

While the Left parties sought a detailed discussion on Naxalite violence in the country, the Trinamool Congress demanded a discussion on "Marxist violence" as "Marxists and Naxalites are two sides of the same coin".

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