After Bharat Bandh, NDA plans to corner govt in Parliament

Buoyed by the near total unity of the Opposition parties during the July 5 nationwide strike, NDA is planning to take the momentum forward by seeking to corner the government on issues like price rise in Parliament during the coming Monsoon session.

NDA convenor Sharad Yadav today said he expected parties like BSP and RJD, which did not associate with the 'Bharat Bandh', to support the demands in Parliament for rollback of fuel prices and steps to bring down costs of foodgrains and other essential items.

Apparently seeking to woo all the parties, he said issues related to price hike were not confined to any political party and all those sympathetic towards people's problems would join the efforts to corner the government.

"A person or party is not the leader this time, it is the issue that is the leader. On issues, the opposition unity will get further strengthened in coming days and government will have to face the heat over price rise in the coming session of Parliament," Yadav told PTI in an interview.

The JD-U chief, who played a key role in organising the Bharat Bandh, said the July 5 agitation proved a cataylst for opposition unity and was the beginning of non-UPA parties coming together.

"The Bandh was unprecedented in the history of independent India. It was the first big step against the UPA in the last six years," he added.

He dismissed the criticism of the Congress, which took a jibe at the Left and BJP for coming together during the 'Bharat Bandh' and accused the ruling party of trying to obfuscate important issues on the pretext of secularism.

"Congress wants to use secularism as a cover to push other burning issues under the carpet. The country does not run on a single issue. There are many issues, which are important," the JD(U) leader said.

He claimed that the UPA was "shaken" after Bharat Bandh and hence they would try to break the Opposition unity.

Countering Congress attack, he said, "I want to ask the Congress why they joined hands with BJP on the issue of Women's Reservation Bill and how many times it held discussions with the main opposition party on the nuclear deal," Yadav said.

He expected to get the support of BSP and RJD in Parliament of the price rise issue.

BSP did not participate in the 'Bharat Bandh' because the SP, its main rival in Uttar Pradesh, had associated with it. Similarly, RJD-LJP did not join the bandh because JD(U), their main rival in Bihar, was part of it.