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Sugarcane issue to dominate winter session:Rajdeep Sardesai

Published on Thu, Nov 19, 2009 at 13:34 | Source : CNBC-TV18

Updated at Thu, Nov 19, 2009 at 15:27

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Rajdeep Sardesai, Editor-in-Chief , CNN-IBN

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In an exclusive interview with CNBC-TV18, Rajdeep Sardesai, of CNN-IBN, Editor-in-Chief, spoke on the Winter Session of the Parliament.

Below is a verbatim transcript of the exclusive interview with Rajdeep Sardesai on CNBC-TV18. Also watch the accompanying video.

Q: What should one expect from our neck of the woods?
A: On day one and probably through first few days this entire battle of sugarcane prices will dominate the Parliament's Winter Session. Sugarcane farmers have picketed the Parliament and the entire opposition--Mulayam Singh Yadav to Ajit Singh to Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP)--is also united on this one issue. I think this will be a precursor to wider debate that is likely to take place on Parliament on rising prices per se. However, this opposition unity, which is critical, is unlikely to hold because of the Pension Bill.

The one economic legislation that, perhaps, could be at least debated in this session of the parliament, at least the government says it is determined to put it before parliament is the Pension Bill. So when that bill comes across will this unity within the Parliament stay, particularly, in the Rajya Sabha led by the Left and prevent legislation from going through? That is the space we will have to see, but at the moment, it seems that rising prices will create some element of opposition unity in the first few days of Parliament.

Q: Was it a surprise that insurance did not make it this time or was is expected that it wouldn't get taken up for discussion in the Winter Session?
A: What is happening is that the government is going step by step. Pranab Mukherjee's strategy is to try and get legislation through in an incremental manner. The fact is that the Insurance Bill is still before a Standing Committee and there is still discussion going on. So rather than bring it in the Winter Session, when it seems unlikely that it will go through, it will probably come up in the next session--the budget session--in February. However, it seems at the moment that governments' focus as far as economic legislation is primarily on the Pension Bill, can it get that bill through? I think that will be a test of the governments' attempt to build some kind of consensus on critical economic reforms.

Q: There has been a fairly clearly laid out divestment policy as we step into the Winter Session, might that come up for discussion or is that a done deal and the government will go about its business?
A: Pranab Mukherjee's strategy is to do this by stealth, which means you don't necessarily have to bring any legislation when it concerns disinvestment before Parliament. There could be a debate on it; but the government is now determined to use the Cabinet route rather than the Parliament route to pass contentious economic legislations.

I expect in the next couple of months many more PSUs to be on the chopping block. The government is very clear, before the next budget in February at least three-four more PSUs will be part of the disinvestment roadmap that the Finance Minister has drawn for himself.

Q: So from our part of the world do you expect a likely dull session or exciting?

A: The good news is that politics seem to mater less and less. The fact is that you have got a government which has a remarkable victory in the general elections and then again in Maharashtra, it has led to some element of complacency and the opposition is still to get its act together. In that situation, I don't see many political contentious issues being raised in the Parliament on a regular basis. It will be a relatively dull session barring the fact that you have got all the sugarcane farmers picketing the Parliament on day one and there by providing Ajit Singh his 15 seconds of glory.

Q: That is important though because there are fairly liquid well-tracked sugar stocks in the equity market. Will the government have to blink on this one?
A: They might have to because Uttar Pradesh is the one state which is being looked at very seriously by the government in terms of the congress's future prospect there. Already we are told today there could be an Rs 7,000 crore package for Bundelkhand in the Cabinet meeting later today.

The sugarcane farmers' issue is one which even Congressmen are saying that farmers need to be provided higher price for sugarcane and then this ordinance which this government is planning to bring is not acceptable. Sharad Pawar himself leads a powerful sugar lobby in Maharashtra and he will have to a do a balancing act between the demands that the sugarcane farmers are placing on him. So you will perhaps see the government bending on the issue of sugarcane pricing.