New Delhi: BJP on Wednesday claimed it had compelled the government during the just-concluded Parliament session to either "refer or defer" legislations like Civil Nuclear Bill and Education Tribunal Bill, even as it charged the UPA regime of lacking in coordination and "collective responsibility".
"BJP is extremely satisfied with the performance of its members in both Houses. Where the opposition parties came with us we provided a united opposition, where the government came with us we cooperated and when neither government nor opposition supported us we strongly stood our ground," Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said.
In this context, she referred to the stalling of Parliament for five days by a united opposition over price rise.
BJP also put the Government on the backfoot on the "mess" in the Commonwealth Games preparations, issues relating to Bhopal gas tragedy and the "fleeing" of Union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson.
After forcing the Government to backtrack on certain amendements, BJP supported the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damages Bill, 2010, she said.
Both the Enemy Property Bill and the Education Tribunal Bill faced stiff opposition from the BJP and other parties.
The party raised serious concerns over the incidents of violence in Jammu and Kashmir, she said.
"For the government it was a refer and defer session. It had to either refer or defer Bills. When BJP supported they had to refer the Bill to us else they had to defer the Bill. We succeeded in setting our agenda, putting forward our stand and, when we did not get support of other parties, we remained unperturbed and stood our ground," Swaraj said.
Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley maintainted that BJP's performance as a "responsible principal opposition" in the session was a "synthesis of opposition when required and cautious cooperation when the situation so warranted".
Jaitley also criticised the government for "losing its grip on governance", appearing not to have any "collective responsibility", and there being lack of coordination between Union Ministers and the ruling party MPs.
'The leadership of the government appears to be losing its grip on governance. It does not appear to be moving with any collective responsibility....There was a gap between Ministers and ruling party MPs. The widening of this gap was apparent," Jaitley said.
Citing examples of the "gap", he said that if priority of one minister was the Food Security Bill then for another it was the Civil Liablity for Nuclear Damages Bill.
"There was no internal coordination also. One minister was stopping another's projects," he said. PTI
