Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: In a drastic move, the BJP-led NDA has decided to boycott Home Minister P Chidambaram during the Winter Session of the Parliament till the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh forces him to resign.
The NDA decision came on the eve of start of the Winter Session of Parliament at a meeting held at the residence of senior BJP leader LK Advani.
The meeting was attended by the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and her counterpart in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, BJP president Nitin Gadkari, NDA convenor and JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav, BJP deputy leader in Rajya Sabha SS Ahluwalia, Shiv Sena leaders Manohar Joshi and Anant Geete and Shiromani Akali Dal leader Naresh Gujral.
“It has been established beyond doubt that Chidambaram as the finance minister facilitated the 2G spectrum scam. The NDA has decided to boycott the Home Minister in the Parliament,” BJP deputy leader in Rajya Sabha SS Ahluwalia emerging from the meeting said.
"The Prime Minister has taken Raja's resignation, but didn't seek Chidambaram's resignation….Till Chidambaram's resignation is accepted, we will boycott him in Parliament. We will not allow him to speak," he added.
The NDA decision will be a repeat of what the Congress did to George Fernandes after his reinstatement as defence minister in the Vajpayee-government on the Tehelka arms expose.
The NDA meeting chalked out the strategy to take on the government on a range of issues, including price rise and corruption, in the Winter Session of Parliament beginning on Tuesday.
On the opening day of Winter Session of Parliament, Advani will move an adjournment motion on the issue of black money in the Lok Sabha. The NDA has decided to support the Left's adjournment motion on price rise in Parliament.
Significantly, it is learnt that both the Left and the NDA will support each other's motions on price rise and black money in Parliament.
Earlier In the day, BJP parliamentary party met at the residence of Advani to formulate the party's strategy in the forthcoming Parliament session.
The NDA has already fine-tuned its strategy to corner the government on various issues. Advani has already made the party’s intent clear when he targeted the PM over the issue.
The BJP has been attacking Chidambaram on 2G issue and has been demanding that CBI question him on spectrum allotment issue, holding that the decision was taken when he was the finance minister.
First Published: Monday, November 21, 2011, 11:44