Sushma and Jaitley set the agenda to outwit govt

Swaraj and Jaitley show who call the shots in BJP

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh may have installed Nitin Gadkari as the BJP president and even helped him create an eminently uninspiring organisational structure.

But the charmed team to succeed Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L. K. Advani seems to have already been created.

Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley proved on Wednesday who the real leaders in the BJP are.

The two Leaders of Opposition in both the Houses of Parliament teamed up to pit the BJP's performance as opposed to the Congress at the end of the first half of the budget session. Swaraj and Jaitley took turns in demolishing the ruling party's floor management during debate on almost all significant legislations — the women's reservation Bill, the civil liability for nuclear damage Bill 2010, and the debate on price rise.

"The first part of the budget session proved to be an opportunity for the Opposition to highlight the misery inflicted upon the people by the UPA government's inability to control the prices of essential commodities, particularly food items. Floor coordination was the hallmark of the Opposition. Complete absence of floor management was the characteristic of the UPA. The BJP has ended the first half of the budget session with a sense of satisfaction of having discharged its responsibility as India's principal Opposition party," said Swaraj.

Jaitley said the government was "outnumbered and outwitted" by the BJP- led Opposition. It was not just the articulation of the subject and management of an aggressive media but the supreme confidence exhibited by the duo that set them a few notches above the rest.

The sprinkling of those handpicked to run the organisation - chief spokesperson and general secretary Ravi Shankar Prasad, Prakash Javdekar, Ram Nath Kovind - marked the significance of the two leaders coming together even though they refused to comment on anything outside the proceedings of the two Houses.

Swaraj clearly took the lead in parrying uncomfortable questions. When Jaitley was asked about the summons to Narendra Modi regarding the 2002 riot cases, Swaraj intervened: "Arun Jaitley will not answer this question." The importance of being Swaraj and Jaitley was clear not just to those within the party but also to the government.

The Congress has been trying to convince the BJP about the acceptability of the nuclear civil liabilities Bill. The National Security Adviser (NSA) has already met Jaitley once and the Prime Minister spoke with Swaraj earlier this week.

Late on Wednesday afternoon, the NSA once again held an hour- long parley with Swaraj and Jaitley in the Parliament House complex. Several other BJP leaders were also present during the discussion.

But the BJP leadership remained unconvinced about the Bill.

Reproduced From Mail Today. Copyright 2010. MTNPL. All rights reserved.