Oppn to raise farm distress, Rafale in Rajya Sabha

NEWDELHI: As the tussle between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the Rafale jet fighter deal persists, opposition parties in the Rajya Sabha have identified three key issues on which to corner the ruling dispensation in the ongoing winter session of Parliament, political leaders said on Thursday.

While the agrarian crisis tops the list for opposition leaders in the upper house, a perceived breakdown of constitutional bodies and the Centre’s failure to create jobs are the other key issues. The other Opposition parties have also agreed to support the Congress in its confrontation with the BJP over the Rafale issue. “There is a broad agreement between different Opposition parties on the subjects that we should take up during the session,” said the Trinamool Congress floor leader in the Rajya Sabha, Derek O’Brien.

Close on the heels of the BJP’s defeat in three heartland states, its rivals have realized that the farm issue can be the most important political weapon to take on the government. Many analysts have concluded that farm distress has contributed a large extent to the BJP’s defeat in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. The Opposition groups now want to up the ante on the issue inside Parliament, said a Congress leader.

But their plans to confront the government may have to wait as disruptions in the House led to an adjournment for the second day. The house on Thursday couldn’t transact any business following another round of protests by Tamil Nadu parties inside the well over the Cauvery river waters issue.