Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today side-stepped questions on the issue of the government tabling the Liberhan Commission report on the Babri Masjid demolition in Parliament.
Singh did not reply to queries put by reporters on the issue after he emerged from an all-party meeting convened by Speaker Meira Kumar on the eve of the Budget Session.
The Prime Minister merely said the government was looking forward to the session with "great expectation" and expressed the hope that the House will function smoothly.
The meeting witnessed demands for early tabling of the Liberhan Commission report.
RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said people want the report to be tabled in Parliament along with the Action Taking Report (ATR).
SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav is understood to have suggested that the government should exercise caution while implementing the report.
The Prime Minister said he believed that all political parties want Parliament to function "effectively and smoothly" and on behalf of the government, he extended "fullest cooperation" in the smooth functioning of Parliament.
"Parliament is the forum where debate can take place. It will be our sincere desire that Parliament functions smoothly," the PM added.
Sources said that Basudev Acharia (CPI-M) and Gurudas Dasgupta (CPI) raised the issue of Liberhan Commission report at the meeting seeking tabling of the report during the session.
Demanding that the report be made public, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, however, said care should be taken to ensure that the atmosphere was not vitiated.
