Govt''s fresh bid to end Parliament deadlock; all-party meet tomorrow

New Delhi, August 2

With half of the Monsoon session virtually washed out, the government will make a fresh bid to end the two-week-long deadlock in Parliament with an all-party meeting tomorrow.

While the BJP-led coalition is reaching out to Opposition, there is no let up in the Congress attack on the government on the Lalit Modi and Vyapam controversies and it is likely to make its strategy tomorrow at a meeting of the Congress parliamentary party, which will be addressed by party chief Sonia Gandhi.

The CPP general body meeting is being held hours before the all-party meet at a time when the government and the BJP are giving no indication of accepting its demand for resignations of Sushma Swaraj, Vasundhara Raje and Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

While the Opposition, including the Congress and the Left parties have taken a line of "no resignation, no discussion", BJP leaders and ministers are making it loud and clear that there will be no resignation and government is not going to "oblige" the Opposition.

The government has offered a reply by External Affairs Minister in Parliament and is ready for a discussion on Lalit Modi controversy but dubbed the Vyapam scam a state issue.

With Opposition not relenting, the ministers have repeatedly accused them of "running away" from a debate.

The main opposition party has demanded that Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Raje resign for their alleged role in Lalit Modi controversy and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Chouhan quit over the Vyapam scam.

Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad has made it clear that the all-party meeting should be based on what action is taken against Swaraj, Raje and Chouhan.

"It (the three BJP leaders' fate) should be on the agenda for the discussions," Azad has said.

Congress has also made it clear that its participation in an all-party meeting to break the deadlock depended on a "tangible" proposal from the Prime Minister on the Opposition's demands.

At the CPP meeting, the Congress President is expected to make the party's stand on these issues all the more clear and also hit out at the government on farmers' issues.

This will be the first meeting of the CPP general body in the Monsoon session, which has seen an aggressive Congress seeking to corner the government on corruption issue.

CPI(M) has also blamed the BJP-led government for disrupting the House, accusing it of trying to escape from accountability behind the veil of conducting a "debate for debate's sake". —PTI