Opener Arun Jaitley to foil Congress googly?

New Delhi: A washed out winter session not withstanding, the government is in no mood to let the opposition, specially Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi hijack the demonetisation narrative, and has decided to field Union finance minister Arun Jaitley as the first speaker on the issue when Parliament meets on Wednesday.

“We want our voice to be heard first. The opposition, specially the Congress party’s sole aim is to let its leader speak and then disrupt proceedings. We will prevent that from happening,” top government sources told this newspaper.

The sources said that Mr Jaitley himself will most open the debate on behalf of the government. “It is only after the government has put its view forward that the Opposition will be allowed to speak. They have disrupted Parliament for the full session.”

Under such circumstances, the motion for a discussion has to either be moved by the government or Speaker Sumitra Mahajan has to call for an impromptu debate suspending all businesses, which the government has proposed several times.

The principal opposition parties — Congress, Trinamool Congress, the Left Front — had demanded a debate under Rule 56, which includes an adjournment motion and a voting. Though they had scaled it down to Rule 184, a discussion under which has to be completed within a day, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan had begun a discussion under Rule 193. However, opposition MPs, specially those belonging to the Trinamool Congress, had prevented it from taking off.

The sources said that the government’s toughening of stance took place after the Congress and TMC failed to stick to their word given to Speaker Sumitra Mahajan during a meeting on Wednesday, the day veteran BJP leader L.K. Advani had expressed his displeasure on the running of the House.

“Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad had himself promised the Speaker that a discussion would be allowed the next day. But there was complete turnaround when Parliament convened,” they said.

It is after this it seems that the government decided to toughen its stand, which was visible when the ruling party blocked Mr Gandhi from speaking in Lok Sabha.

As Mr Gandhi claimed that this was because the government was scared of letting him speak, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also said at a rally on Sunday that the opposition was not allowing him to speak in Parliament.

Opposition parties see this as a bid to counter their demand that the PM be present in both Houses.