'DMK-Left row is like civil war in UPA'

It was an open goal and Leader of Opposition L K Advani did not miss. Unlike in the past when BJP has been erratic in Parliament, Advani struck decisively on Tuesday, pinning UPA under withering fire over the spectacle of Left and DMK MPs nearly coming to blows in Lok Sabha.

Describing the disturbance as "civil war in UPA", Advani said that a new precedent had been set as usually disorder in the House was a result of a difference of opinion between Opposition and government.

"But here we saw two components of the UPA creating a scene which led to adjournments." While all members of the House would be concerned over the events, it was for government to give a thought to how Parliament was to be run.

"Tuesday's incident is within the ruling party... coalition dharma has been violated in an ugly manner," he said, seeking to make the point that NDA did a much better job of handling the pulls and pressures of running a coalition at the Centre.

In his brief, but telling performance Advani displayed the fire he used to bring to bear on Congress governments from Opposition benches in the 90's.

His current stint as Leader of Opposition has been hamstrung with BJP's troubles often making news as the controversy over Advani's strained ties with the Sangh Parivar.

If Advani has seemed bogged down by uncertainty over his standing amongst party colleagues and the unending skirmishes between BJP's gennext leaders, he was able to shake it off to clinically target the UPA's weaknesses. With just the right emphasis — without sounding too partisan — he was able to place the infighting and rank bad floor coordination with the ruling alliance and its principal supporters.

Advani was able to make his interruption largely uninterrupted as both UPA and Left benches seemed keenly aware that the internecine clash had not reflected well on the ruling benches.

CPI's Gurudas Dasgupta did try to respond to Advani's remarks by saying that Left did not need lectures on coalition dharma, but his interjection seemed more in the nature of a formality than one driven by conviction.

With UPA-Left split wide open in Lok Sabha, BJP benches reacted with sarcastic thumping of their desks as marshalls were called in to restore order.

The development gave BJP just the opportunity it needed to argue that UPA was an opportunistic coming together of diverse interests and the combine's relationship with the Left rested mainly on a common desire to share benefits of power.

BJP also pointed out that while its attempts to force an adjournment were invariably stonewalled — often proceedings continued till half-an-hour and more in the midst of a din — on Tuesday the House was shut down by the chair itself.

In the House, NDA members demanded to know why proceedings were being adjourned for intervals of 15 minutes while Left, DMK and Congress leaders sought to work out a compromise.