PM [1]
Rank : Helper
Status : Super Owner
#1
Tensions within the INDIA Opposition bloc played out in Lok Sabha today as Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav criticised the BJP while distancing himself from the main Opposition Congress. At one point, when he criticised the "inadequate attention" to the manufacturing sector after the 1991 economic reforms, Speaker Om Birla could not resist a quip, to which Mr Yadav replied his path is the "cycle track".
Speaking about the tension along the China border, he said both the BJP and the Congress have opinions on the issue. Referring to the Congress era, he said, "At one time, we lost lakhs of acres (to China). The BJP is now on the same path. But the BJP does not even accept China has occupied."
Mr Yadav's remarks come a day after Leader of the Opposition, Congress's Rahul Gandhi, claimed that the Army has said Chinese are inside Indian territory. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has trashed the claim and said if India lost land, it was during the 1962 conflict when the Congress was in power.
The Samajwadi Party chief reiterated his demand for a caste survey, that there was a time when the Congress did not back this demand. "There should be a caste survey to strengthen reservation. Now the Congress supports it too. There was a time when the Congress was not in support. If the Congress supported it then, we wouldn't have to ask for it now. I want to tell my friends in the Congress, that we are with you and on this issue, we will not just back you but take the lead. No one can stop a caste survey," he said.
At this point, MPs from the treasury benches claimed friction between the two parties. "There is no friction, not like your double engine," Mr Yadav replied.
Like Mr Gandhi yesterday, the Samajwadi Party chief spoke about China's growing influence in manufacturing, but the latter went back to history. Referring to the 1991 economic reforms under the PV Narasimha Rao government, Mr Yadav said, "When our market was opened, economists understand this better than I do, but I understand that when our market was opened, adequate attention was not given to the economy. The manufacturing sector was not handled as responsibly as it should have been. If it was, probably we would have surged ahead of China."
The remark was significant because the Congress was in power at the time of the economic reforms. As Mr Yadav continued, the Speaker quipped, "Are you giving them gyan?" Mr Yadav smiled, "Our track is the same, the cycle one."
Mr Yadav's measured remarks played out against the backdrop of the changing equations within the INDIA bloc. In the Delhi polls tomorrow, Congress and AAP, which contested the general election last year, are taking each other on. The former allies have attacked each other bitterly during the poll campaign. Interestingly, Akhilesh Yadav joined the AAP campaign and told people to come together to defeat the BJP. Without naming the Congress, which is expected to divide Opposition votes, Mr Yadav said, "I appeal to people to come together to defeat the BJP. Your vote should not be wasted, to defeat the BJP, every vote should go to AAP."
In fact, even in today's speech, Mr Yadav threw his weight behind the AAP stance that the BJP-ruled Centre had blocked development in Delhi. "Delhi will develop on its own, only if BJP's Delhi government stops interfering," he said.
Besides the Samajwadi Party, INDIA bloc allies Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (Sharad Pawar) have extended support to the AAP over the Congress in Delhi, bringing the friction in the alliance out in the open.
In the aftermath of the Congress's setbacks in the Haryana and Maharashtra polls, INDIA allies have also raised the issue of leadership change in the Opposition bloc.