HYDERABAD, 22 April — The Telugu Desam Party (TDP), a key ally of India’s ruling coalition, said it will continue to press for a discussion on the Gujarat violence in Parliament when it reconvenes today.
TDP Parliamentary Party leader K. Yerran Naidu said here yesterday that his party wanted a discussion on Gujarat in Parliament under any rule. "A discussion is more important and it does not matter to us under which rule it is taken up," he told reporters.
Yerran Naidu also reiterated the TDP demand for the dismissal of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for his alleged failure to contain the sectarian violence in the western state that has claimed over 900 lives since February-end. Yerran Naidu was speaking to mediapersons after a meeting with TDP president and Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu to apprise him of last week’s developments in Parliament and chart out the party’s strategy in Parliament.
TDP leader in Rajya Sabha Alladi Rajkumar was also present at the meeting. Yerran Naidu said he expected the deadlock in Parliament over Gujarat to be resolved in a day or two.
He, however, did not say how this would happen, since the opposition parties have stuck to their demand for a discussion under rule 184 that involves voting. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government has rejected this outright.
Opposition parties stalled Parliament last week seeking a discussion followed by a vote on the Gujarat crisis, which they say was fanned by the partisan attitude of the Modi administration.
Four allies of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s Hindu extremist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including the TDP, Trinamool Congress, Lok Janshakti Party and Janata Dal-United, have supported the opposition’s demand for Modi’s ouster.
The BJP is agreeable to only a debate without voting because it fears that some of its allies may side with the opposition if a vote is taken. The TDP, after a virtual ultimatum last week to Vajpayee to sack Modi or face the consequences, backed out of a confrontation. Yesterday’s meeting is being seen as part of Naidu’s efforts to keep the parliamentary party united on the Gujarat issue.
He has reportedly taken a serious note of media reports about the possible split in the party on the Modi question. The party has already issued a denial in this regard to a television channel. Naidu has also written letters to about 100 important party leaders explaining the party’s stand on the Gujarat issue in a bid to clear the confusion over.
