With the standoff in Parliament over a JPC into 2G spectrum scam threatening to spill over to Budget session, a concerned Speaker Meira Kumar has started a fresh initiative of having informal talks with the government and opposition to ward off the possibility.
Kumar has called for lunch tomorrow prominent leaders from the main opposition BJP as also concerned ministers including Leader of Lok Sabha Pranab Mukherjee.
The effort of the Speaker appeared to be to hammer out a solution to the deadlock which had led to the longest shutdown of Parliament during the recent winter session.
Prominent among those invited tomorrow are L K Advani, Working Chairman of NDA and Chairperson of BJP Parliamentary Party, Sushma Swaraj, Leader of Opposition and Parliamentary Affairs Minister P K Bansal.
The Speaker, who is keen on resolving the deadlock at the earliest, would be meeting leaders of other opposition parties on Friday.
Last week Mukherjee, the chief trouble shooter of the government, had mooted the idea of a special session to discuss the issue of JPC but the opposition was quick to reject it and instead wanted formation of a JPC.
The opposition leaders have threatened to stall the proceedings in the Budget session, expected to start in the third week of February, if the JPC demand was not met.
Kumar had recently made a fresh appeal to political parties to find a solution to the impasse over the Opposition demand for JPC on the 2G spectrum issue which washed off the entire winter session of Parliament.
The BJP and other opposition parties insist that Public Accounts Committee does not have the powers to fully investigate the 2G spectrum scam and a JPC should be constituted while the ruling UPA has also remained adamant on not going for a JPC.
The Speaker had earlier held a meeting with leaders to end the impasse but it had proved futile.
Two all-party meetings called by the government to end the impasse had also failed.
