Hoping that the ongoing stalemate in Parliament might overflow to the Budget Session, the main Opposition BJP has begun sensing a possibility of mid-term polls.
Senior BJP leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley on Friday said the UPA government is unlikely to complete its full term, maintaining that NDA needs to expand to take on the Congress in the next elections. The Congress, however, dismissed the possibility of snap polls if the deadlock in Parliament continued in the Budget Session.
Addressing a party seminar on the 2G scam, Mr Jaitley said: “We are in a strange crossroads. Till a few weeks ago, I used to say we have to prepare for the 2014 general elections. Today I am not willing to say with any element of certainty or confidence that the next election will only be in 2014.”
He added: “I don’t think the government, which is almost tripping by the day, can sustain three and a half years or four years which are left.”
Ruling out any possibility of mid-term polls, AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh said: “No. If simply boycotting Parliament without having the majority could lead to mid-term polls, it will be impossible for the democracy to function. They (Opposition) don’t have the mandate to govern. We have it. Why should their not allowing Parliament function lead to mid-term polls?”
Accusing the ruling coalition for not allowing JPC probe into the 2G scam, Mr Jaitley asked the party cadre to be ready to take to the streets for protests and rallies in the coming three months on the issue. He also stressed that the NDA will have to become the nucleus of the anti-UPA politics.
Mr Jaitley also predicted a “rude shock” for Left parties in the upcoming assembly polls in West Bengal and Kerala, following which the chances of a third front would diminish further. On the 2G scam issue, Mr Jaitley described Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as a “prisoner of coalition politics”.