PM, Sonia deliberate party line ahead of monsoon session

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Friday discussed the strategy to be adopted in the monsoon session of the Parliament on issues such as Telangana and proposed amendments in the Right to Information Act.

Sources said the hour-long Congress Core Group meeting focussed on garnering support for the smooth passage of the crucial food security and land acquisition bills. The core group meeting decided that Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath will hold further consultations with the parties.

Meanwhile Union Minister Kapil Sibal had a brief meeting with Janata Dal-United President Sharad Yadav in the evening. The party is yet to decide on the date for the working committee meeting which is supposed to take a final call on the Telangana issue. A decision on the date will be taken in the next Core Group Meeting.

The party feels that a final call on the issue has to be taken soon and the issue cannot be left undecided for long. Andhra Pradesh state Congress president Botsa Satyanarayana on Thursday said he had urged the party leadership to take an early decision on the Telangana issue during last week's meeting of the Congress core group.

On the RTI issue, the government has completed back channel discussions with parties and is expected to bring a bill in this session to amend the Act to overturn a Central Information Commission order bringing six major political parties under the ambit of the transparency law.