Published: Friday, Jan 14, 2011, 2:28 IST
By Harish Gupta | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_meira-kumar-to-make-another-attempt-to-break-parliament-logjam-over-2g-scam_1494214
Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar will make another attempt to break the impasse in Parliament on the insistence of the opposition parties to set up a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) to probe the second-generation mobile telephony spectrum scam.
The speaker is likely to invite the leaders of political parties after returning from London where she has gone to attend an international conference. She will be returning on January 19.
With government showing no signs of blinking and the opposition equally determined not to allow Parliament to function, Meira Kumar is worried about the fate of the budget session beginning mid-February.
She had made one attempt last month by inviting leaders of almost all political parties to find a solution. The government had offered to call a special session of Parliament to discuss the joint parliamentary demand, which was rejected by the opposition. Since then, the government has launched a multi-pronged strategy to deal with the principal opposition party, the BJP.
It is trying to puncture the very basis of the opposition’s charge of Rs1.76 lakh crore loss in the 2G mobile bandwidth scam by fielding telecom minister Kapil Sibal who attacked the CAG findings, and also putting the RSS on the backfoot in the Aseemanand case.
It is learnt that the RSS has distanced itself from some of the extremist elements who were earlier in the organisation after a word was conveyed by a few Congress leaders that the government will be left with no option but to impose a ban on it. There are indications all such terror cases - five in all - may be handed over to National Investigation Agency which functions directly under the union home ministry.
The UPA has also succeeded in even wooing some of the BJP leaders to sing a different tune. The UPA is also quietly talking to some of the regional and smaller parties distance from the JPC chorus.
Last but not the least, the government has also taken a series of steps to launch a tirade against corruption in public life particularly against public servants in order to send tilt public opinion. Pranab Mukherjee-led group of ministers has been set up which will meet first time next week to devise strategy to fight corruption.
