Jaya's MPs expose UPA's weak links in Rajya Sabha

Members of Parliament belonging to the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Monday exposed the chinks in the United Progressive Alliance’s armour by getting question hour suspended in the Rajya Sabha with their demand to bring the Coalgate scam into focus.

As many as six Union ministers who were present in the Rajya Sabha did not go to the rescue of Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath who was seen fighting a lone battle.

The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, interestingly, did not extend support to the AIADMK MPs when they raised the coal scam. Even when Dr V Maitreyan stood up to demand that the law minister be brought to the bar of the House, the BJP members remained silent.

A careful reading of the opening day of the Parliament session gives the impression that the

UPA is crumbling. No minister or any Congress MP seemed interested in defending Prime Minister Manmohan Singh or Law Minister Ashwini Kumar who meddled with the CBI’s draft report on the coal scam before it was filed in the Supreme Court.

Six Union ministers in the Rajya Sabha seemed to be enjoying Kamal Nath’s predicament, while Arun Jaitley stood up to corner Rajiv Sukhla on the Comptroller and Auditor General. Farooq Abdullah, Jairam Ramesh and Rehman Khan seemed immersed in the heat of the discussion, but even they did not rise to defend the government with their counter arguments.

While the AIADMK thus performed with aplomb in the Rajya Sabha on Monday, the Congress ministers were completely divided.

It is now evident that the Coalgate scam is likely to dominate the next few days of Parliament.