Second half of Budget Session may see crack in Opposition unity

New Delhi: The second half of the Budget Session of Parliament could witness a crack in Opposition unity with the Trinamool Congress all set to take on the Congress owing to their bitter rivalry in the ensuing West Bengal polls. The crack in Opposition unity could help the government move forward on the goods and services tax. The second half of the Budget Session starts on April 25.

At this juncture, the Trinamool Congress is seething following Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s blistering attack on the outfit and comparing West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The much-flaunted Opposition unity, which had repeatedly disrupted Parliament proceedings during the first half of the Budget Session, could suffer a setback with the Trinamool Congress in no mood to latch on to the Congress bandwagon. On the GST Bill issue, speculation was rife that the Trinamool, which has 12 MPs in the Rajya Sabha, could support it openly or stage a walkout to facilitate the government’s move to push through the contentious bill.

The Congress, which had joined hands with the Left, attacked the Trinamool with all guns blazing. What upset the Trinamool was Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s remark comparing Ms Banerjee with Prime Minister Modi. “Both Narendra Modi and Mamata bluffed the people. Both are autocratic and two sides of the same coin,” Mrs Gandhi had said at a recent public rally in Bengal.

Incidentally, though the BJP has also targeted Ms Banerjee’s regime to stay afloat in the electoral battle in Bengal, the Centre has been somewhat soft on Ms Banerjee at the national level. Lacking clout in the Rajya Sabha, the Modi government knows that it has to turn to “Didi” for her crucial support for contentious legislation. Eyebrows were raised when the Central investigating agencies adopted an evasive role on the multicrore Saradha scam. It may be recalled that Prime Minister Modi has not been missing any opportunity to reach out to regional players to further the Centre’s legislative agenda.

Mr Modi had gone to the extent of saying, “In West Bengal, Mamata didi is trying to revive the state from 35-year-long misrule.”

A senior TMC functionary, while making it clear that his party “supports” GST, refused to give any importance to electoral rhetoric. “Things are said during elections. That’s taken for granted. We do not support BJP’s ideology, but we also don’t want to criticise the Centre even if it was doing a good job,” he said.