BJP president Rajnath Singh will open the debate on the Liberhan Commission report in the Lok Sabha while Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley is expected to lead the party charge in the Rajya Sabha. The Lok Sabha will debate the report on December 1 and the Rajya Sabha on December 7.
The BJP had initially decided to field Sushma Swaraj as the lead speaker in the Lower House,but she will now be the second speaker on the issue. The performance of its star speakers in both Houses will be keenly watched by the RSS,say party sources.
While the initial plan would have seen the quartet of Delhi BJP leaders Jaitley,Sushma Swaraj,in addition to Venkaiah Naidu,and Ananth Kumar holding forth on the Ayodhya
debate,sources say that Rajnath,whose term as party president technically ends on November 26,didn’t want to be left out of the debate.
The BJP leaders intend to use the debates in the two Houses to also reassure their core ideological constituency. Not all the leaders would speak on Hindutva,though. While Rajnath is expected to be an unabashed Hindutva spoke- sperson in his speech,Jaitley is likely to focus on the legalities and incongruities in the Liberhan report.
While Sushma will use her oratorical skills to explain how leaders like A B Vajpayee had been indicted by the commission,L K Advani is likely to use his intervention to explain the text and context of the Ayodhya movement and how it changed the politics of 90s.
People to decide Rao role: Cong
NEW DELHI: The Congress denied ticket to former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao in 1998 general election for his perceived inaction in preventing demolition of Babri Masjid but now the party appears to be in a fix over its stance on the Liberhan Commission report that gave a clean chit to Rao saying constitutional constraint prevented him from acting. What Rao did during his prime ministership is for people to decide, Congress spokesman Shakeel Ahmed said on Thursday. There was perceptible anger against the then government. Then Congress President,Sitaram Kesri publicly apologised for it failing to protect Babri Masjid, Ahmed said.
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