Sonia Gandhi asks Congress MPs to haul BJP over the coals

New Delhi: The war between the UPA government and the Bharatiya Janata Party in Parliament refuses to die down as the Opposition continues to stall both the Houses demanding Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's resignation over the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on the coal blocks allocation.

Refusing to relent, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi decided to take the charge asking her MPs to go on the offensive on the issue.

The usually calm Congress president told her MPs: "We don't need to be defensive. It is wrong. We must attack. They cannot take people for granted."

Sonia Gandhi decided to take the charge asking her MPs to go on the offensive while the BJP continued to stall Parliament.

However, amidst the tough stance taken by both the sides, for the first time in three days on Thursday, there were attempts to break the ice as the presiding officers of both the Houses called the leaders for a meeting.

Though the BJP did not attend the meeting, it conveyed its willingness to come to the talking table on Monday.

Also, from the government, Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde met Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj.

The government, however, maintained that it did not visualise the deadlock ending before next week. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said talks to end the stalemate were not possible before Monday. He said the week is likely to be lost due to disruption. "I am told that tomorrow also the Houses will not function," he said.

On the other hand, BJP MP and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley, blamed the government for the deadlock, saying that his party would continue to put pressure on the government.

"This is not a small issue. It is a monumental loss to the Government of India and loss of taxpayers money while it gives huge profits to the private parties, and this happened under the Prime Minister. This is a way to build pressure on the government on an issue, this is very crucial and we do not want a mere half day discussion on this. In democracy at times this way of protest is legitimate to build pressure on the government," said Jaitley.

The government, meanwhile, said it was prepared to discuss the CAG report on coal block allocation in Parliament and reply to the issues raised by the opposition. "The government is already prepared to discuss anything they want. The Prime Minister has already said that. We are prepared to discuss the issues threadbare," Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said.

Law Minister Salman Khurshid expressed the hope that the opposition would join in ensuring proper functioning of Parliament. "We want to give a reply to both the opposition and the country. We have nothing to hide," Khurshid said.

Members from the treasury benches sought to counter the Opposition's slogan of 'Pradhan Mantri Istifa Do (Prime Minister Resign)' by shouting Pradhan Mantri Zindabad (Hail the Prime Minister).

However, the BJP which upped the ante on Wednesday by walking out of the JPC on 2G, on Thursday decided to retain its members in the committee. The party is also not contemplating mass resignation from the Lok Sabha for now. But at least for this week, the main Opposition party appears in no mood to relent from its demand seeking PM's resignation.

(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest)