Speaker meet non-BJP parties to break impasse

Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar held talks with leaders of the opposition in her attempt to break the Parliament impasse on the 2G spectrum issue and hoped that the Budget session would run without interruptions. However, some leaders did not appear to share the same optimism and insisted that a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe was the only way out to break the Parliamentary logjam.

Leaders of several parties including the Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena, Akali Dal, Samajwadi Party, RJD and the National Conference did not attend the luncheon meeting called by the Speaker to find a solution to the deadlock. Among those who attended the meeting, were Agriculture Minister and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, Sharad Yadav of the Janata Dal-United, M Thambidurai of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Nama Nageshwara Rao of the Telegu Desam Party, Ajit Singh of the Rashtriya Lok Dal, Dara Singh Chauhan of the Bahujan Samaj Party, Basudev Acharia (of the Communist Party of India-Marxist, Gurudas Dasgupta of the Communist Party of India and Bhartruhari Mahtab of the Biju Janata Dal.

"The leaders met in a very cordial, friendly and informal atmosphere and have decided to ensure that the next session runs without interruption .... they have decided that they will sit down together and find a solution," the Speaker told reporters after the two-and-a-half

hour meeting.

She termed the meeting as a "step forward" as all the leaders felt that the proceedings of the next session should not be disrupted. Kumar said those leaders who could not make it to the meeting today will be called for discussions at a later date. "Those leaders, who for some reason were not able to come today, I will be finding their conveniece and they will be coming for another lunch and we will be sitting down and continuing this process," she said.

The AIADMK wanted the government to come forward to "listen to the feelings of the opposition". "We are ready to cooperate with the government on Parliamentary procedures but we want constitution of the JPC as only the JPC can bring out the whole 2G spectrum scam,"Thambidurai said. "We cannot get anything from other forums. Therefore, we have made it very clear that without a JPC nothing can come out," he said.

Speaking in similar vein, Acharia said that the CPM did not want disruption in the House but it was unable to understand the resistance in the government to a JPC probe. "What is the problem with having a JPC? Why is the government not doing it? Government should come forward with a solution for this," Acharia said.