President parries questions on early Lok Sabha polls

President Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday parried questions on the possibility of early Lok Sabha polls saying it depends on how the parties and leaders behave, a statement that comes against the backdrop of the wash out of the monsoon session of Parliament.

He urged political parties to work out a mechanism to resolve differences to ensure that the House can function. "It is not a question of what I forsee...This is a question of how leaders will behave, members will behave and parties will behave," he told reporters when asked about the possibility of earlier elections in the wake of the wash out of the Monsoon Session.

He was also asked whether he foresaw such a possibility if one more session of Parliament is washed out. The monsoon session of Parliament was washed out due to repeated disruptions by the Bharatiya Janata Party over its demands for resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the wake of the coal scam.

Asked about the recent wasted session, Mukherjee said, leaders of different political parties should work out a mechanism to resolve differences and ensure that institutions of Parliament can work.

He recalled that on an earlier occasion also in 2009, the whole session was disrupted (on demands for a JPC) and the entire winter session business could not be transacted.

Mukherjee noted that every session of Parliament was important and even the last session was important.