Speaker holds meeting to defuse Parliament crisis

Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar on Monday said she was hopeful the government and opposition parties find a middle ground over the 2G spectrum controversy so that the budget session can be held without interruption. She addressed mediapersons after a third round of talks in New Delhi with government nominees, independent members of Parliament and leaders of single-member parties to ensure smooth functioning of Parliament.

"I have been trying to ensure the budget session runs smoothly. All the independent and single-man party leaders shared similar views. Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee has called a meeting of the opposition leaders on Tuesday in a bid to end the deadlock. I am sure a middle ground would be found," Kumar said.

Finance Minister Mukherjee, Union minister of state for planning, science, technology and parliamentary affairs Ashwani Kumar and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Bansal represented the government at the meeting. Independents, including Inderjit Singh Namdhari, Jose K Mani of the Kerala Congress and members of Parliament from Sikkim and Ladakh also participated in the deliberations, which lasted for over 90 minutes.  

When asked if she agreed with Mukherjee's statement that those against the running of the House are Maoists, Kumar refused to comment. She said in the second round of talks she had invited Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav to give their view on the logjam, but unfortunately they did not come for the meeting.

When Namdhari Singh, an independent from Bihar, was asked if he was in favour of a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the 2G scam he said, "I told Mukherjee that if the Public Accounts Committee and the Central Bureau of Investigation are doing their work, there is no harm if the government accepted the plea for a JPC probe. But he said that this could result in duplicity of work."

Mani was hopeful that Parliament will function smoothly, but he refused to answer whether a JPC probe should be conducted into the 2G, Commonwealth Games and Adarsh Society scams.

Speaker Meira Kumar said she as well as the government have received various suggestions to end the deadlock, but refused to divulge the details.