PM calls BJP leaders to end parliament logjam

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called top BJP leaders Tuesday evening to seek their cooperation in passage of the land acquisition bill in parliament and to break the logjam over his statement on "missing files" in the coal block allocation controversy, informed sources said.

The meeting comes a day before the prime minister's visit to Russia to attend the G20 Summit. The sources said that senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders L.K. Advani, Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj were called for the meeting.

The two houses saw adjournments Tuesday as members insisted that the prime minister should reply to clarifications sought on his statement on the missing files in the coal block allocation.

At its daily briefing, the BJP sharply attacked the prime minister and accused him of being economical with truth in his statement on the missing files.

The BJP also indicated that it may not cooperate with the government on passage of the land acquisition bill in the Rajya Sabha Wednesday. The bill has been passed by the Lok Sabha.

"If the government thinks that the government business is taken up and issue of accountability takes a back seat, this is plainly not acceptable. Cooperation cannot be one-way traffic," said party leader Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Referring to the prime minister's statement on the missing files, Prasad said the prime minister "was economical with truth", and that it "would have been better if he had said we have given directions to register (an) FIR".

He claimed the prime minister was evasive in his statement on the missing files and had not replied to opposition concerns on the issue.