NEW DELHI, August 25: Members of Parliament see it as the TV-op of the century; and what was conceived as an apolitical special session of Parliament for serious introspection on the successes and failures of the past 50 years, is set to become a disguised political battle.

``It could be the starting point of preparations for the next elections. Every party will try to make the best use of this session. That is why we have chosen our best speakers,'' says a senior Congress MP.

Both the Congress and BJP view the session as an opportunity to put across their own agenda to the nation. The image-conscious BJP, which derived tremendous mileage from the televised proceedings of the previous two confidence motions (of Atal Behari Vajpayee and H D Deve Gowda), believes that the preparatory work it has done much in advance for the session will make it shine in comparison to the other, more disorganised parties.

The four-day session begins tomorrow and is to be nationally televised. The Lok Sabha discussion will be a combined one on five broad areas: human resource development, science and technology, parliamentary democracy, India's role in the world and economic problems. The same subjects will be discussed in the Rajya Sabha.

In both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, speakers are to give their speeches from special podiums erected near the presiding officers' chair. Since all avenues for disruption and commotion (now the staple fare of both Houses) like zero hour and question hour have been dispensed with, the TV cameras will be focused entirely on the speaker. ``It's almost like a public speech before a huge gathering,'' says an MP gleefully.

``What else can one expect? If this was intended to be an exercise in self-introspection, the session should have been in camera,'' says a Cabinet Minister. But Lok Sabha Speaker P A Sangma, whose brainchild the session is, believes that by televising the debate the country can see what heights their parliamentarians are capable of scaling.

As a result, MPs chosen by their parties to speak have probably never worked so hard on a Parliament speech. Many have been doing reference in the parliament library; have borrowed books; and have consulted newspaper editors and academics.

Leader of Opposition Vajpayee, who is to initiate the debate in the Lok Sabha, is learnt to have been preparing his speech for the past three days.Madhavrao Scindia, who is to be the Congress' star speaker in the Lok Sabha on parliamentary democracy, has gathered a think-tank of mediapersons and intellectuals around him and has been holding brainstorming sessions with them. Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Sharad Pawar has been honing up on population.

Scindia has been briefed to put across Congress president Sitaram Kesri's current political line of attacking the BJP and the Left. The thrust of the Congress line will be that only it can provide the country with a positive agenda and then put it into practice.

He will attempt to show how the right and the Left have taken similar stances in the past which, the Congress feels, were detrimental to the country's interests. One specific instance could be the recent Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) Bill which was spiked by the BJP and the Left.While the Congress and BJP are geared to derive the most mileage from the session, the Janata Dal (JD), typically, has left things to the last minute. Asked if he would be one of the speakers, JD president and senior MP Sharad Yadav immediately said, ``Yes.'' On which of the five subjects on the agenda? ``I will speak in general,'' he replied.

No one seemed to be sure who the party's main speaker in either House would be. The Prime Minister is to sum up the debate in the Lok Sabha on the last day, and is likely to speak on his pet subject: foreign policy. A meeting of JD MPs is to be called tomorrow to finalise speakers.

In contrast, the Congress held a five-hour meeting today which was attended by all 40 MPs who have opted to speak. Kesri, who called the meeting, told the MPs to ``effectively present the Congress viewpoint'' in the discussion.His brief was that the party should try to maintain the high level of debate promised but be ready if ``anybody wants to convert it into a political battle''.

As soon as the decision to hold the special session was announced, Congress MPs had been asked to prepare themselves. A fortnight ago, the party distributed subjects to its members.

Since the session will be one of introspection in which the problems of the country in the last 50 years will be taken up, the Congress feels it will be a natural target for other parties. The Congress was in power for 45 of these 50 years and Kesri feels the party must take pride in it.

Left parties, too, have been preparing for the session. Chaturanan Mishra is to be the CPI's main speaker in the Lok Sabha, while Geeta Mukherjee will speak on gender issues.

Most MPs have been referring to the exhaustive document on ``50 years of Indian parliamentary democracy'' brought out by the Lok Sabha Secretariat to assist members. The background document gives an in-depth report on the current status of all five subjects.

If, as is likely, political undercurrents dominate the debate, Sangma who thought this would be a meaningful way to celebrate the golden jubilee of Independence, will be disappointed. He hopes that the session will see MPs making a serious attempt to set an agenda for the country for the next millennium.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.