Lok Sabha to debate Nandigram today

Lok Sabha will take up the issue of Nandigram for discussion today, but not as a law and order problem.

New Delhi, Nov 21 : Lok Sabha will take up the issue of Nandigram for discussion today, but not as a law and order problem.

The Nandigram issue will be discussed under Rule 193 that does not allows a voting after discussion.

The issue will be taken up after the Question Hour and the Leader of Opposition, L K Advani, will initiate the debate.

Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil will reply to the discussion. The decision to discuss the issue came after a series of negotiations between the Left and the Opposition.

Leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and other Left parties, the Janata Dal (United), the Biju Janata Dal and others met several times to arrive at an agreement to debate the issue in the House.

Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee had been saying that he would like to accommodate the BJP's demands for a discussion on the issue although, strictly speaking, it was a State subject.

However, he insisted on a text of the motion that was "admissible" under the rules.

The BJP and the CPI (M) leaders confirmed that the agreed text of the motion would refer to the proposal to set up a special economic zone in Nandigram and the "consequent violence" witnessed.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister P R Dasmunsi on Tuesday said, "The stalemate created over discussion on Nandigram has been resolved nicely and with great harmony. The BJP is not moving an adjournment motion and there will be a short-duration discussion on the issue."

Dasmunsi, however, confirmed it would be 'Nandigram-specific' and not an omnibus topic dealing with extremist violence in different states.

ANI