New Delhi, Apr 27: Playing the secular card like BSP, Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Janta Dal today helped the UPA Government in comfortably shaking off the Opposition challenge of cut motions.
After leading the walkout of their 25 members, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Prasad told reporters that they came out of the House ahead of the cut motions as they did not want to vote along with “communal” BJP.
The walkout took place minutes before the cut motions were put to vote and hours after BSP supremo Mayawati announced in Lucknow that her party would vote for the government for the sake of secularism.
Giving similar reasons, RJD chief Lalu Prasad wondered, “how can we go with BJP?”
“We can never go with the communal BJP. What face we will show to people if we go along with BJP. What we will say in reply when people ask why we went with the party. We were never with BJP nor we will ever,” he said.
Prasad also said that BJP and Left brought the cut motion today only for the sake of formality.
Yadav said they would fight the Congress in streets as government cannot be changed in Parliament and Assembly but through mass movement.
Both the leaders at the same time maintained that they have no objection in supporting any such motion if it is brought by the Left.
BJP accused the government of using CBI as a “Damocles’ sword” against vulnerable opposition leaders ahead of the cut motions, a charge also levelled by Sharad Yadav of the JD-U.
“Events of the last few days have once again proved that the UPA and the Congress are misusing CBI as a political instrument for their own survival,” Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said.
Both Prasad and Yadav, however, vehemently denied the charge. Asked what was the deal after which they helped the government, both the leaders said the deal actually happened between Congress and BJP over IPL.
Prasad also accused BJP of “collusion” with Congress on the IPL issue and attacked senior party leader L K Advani saying the latter announced that the issue was over when IPL controversy was at its peak.
He said the Opposition unity was possible on the issue of IPL but “it backed out later”. Prasad, whose party along with SP had strongly opposed the Women’s Reservation Bill recalled that Left, BJP and Congress had joined together on the issue “because they do not care for minorities and backward classes”.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 27 Apr 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 27 Apr 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 28 Apr 2010 00:00:00 IST