New Delhi: The Congress today decided to
issue show-cause notice to 35 of its MPs, including some
ministers, for their failure to be present in the Lok Sabha
when the nuclear liability bill was listed for introduction.
Party sources said the leadership decided to crack the
whip as their absence would have led to "loss of face" if the
bill was introduced and defeated at that stage itself in case
of voting by division.
They pointed out that the absence of the MPs and
ministers was glaring in view of a three-line whip that was
already in place for a bill on archaeological monuments.
Add to this was the absence of MPs belonging to
coalition allies--Trinamool Congress and NCP, the sources
adding in such a situation it would have been a "close call".
The sources said floor managers were of the view that
there could be a problem of numbers on a Monday morning but
they did not expect it to be so bad as to warrant delaying
the bill's introduction.
The treasury benches were worried by the number of
notices received from the opposition members including one
from Yashwant Sinha (BJP) giving their intention to oppose the
measure at the introduction stage itself.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Leader of the House
in the Lok Sabha Pranab Mukherjee and Congress President Sonia
Gandhi were informed of the "distress" situation and they also
counselled postponing introduction of the bill, the sources
said.
-PTI
First Published: Monday, March 15, 2010, 22:45