With the Parliament stalled for the 18th consecutive day on Tuesday over the demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee into the 2G spectrum scam, the Congress core committee met yet again on Tuesday evening to take stock of the situation both inside and outside Parliament.
Sources said the senior leaders took a firm line that they cannot agree to a JPC and there was no question of revisiting the issue. It was decided that with some of the allies like Railway Minister Mamta Banerjee's Trinamool Congress echoing the opposition demand for a JPC, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee would speak to the allies if necessary.
Mamta Banerjee arrived in Delhi on Tuesday night from Kolkatta and it is expected that Pranab Mukherjee would once again make the government's intentions clear to the Trinamool leader on the issue.
It is interesting that the core committee congratulated party chief Sonia Gandhi over the food security bill, which was taken up by the National Advisory Council as one of the flagship programmes of the United Progressive Alliance government, which is still in the process of being finalised.
The Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar met Pranab Mukherjee on Monday evening and discussed the food security bill with him and on Tuesday the discussions were held with Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to tie up the loose ends in the bill.
Sources say that with the entire winter session of the Parliament having been washed out due to the government-opposition wrangling over the JPC, the government would like to end the session with a flourish and by sending the signal that while they are bringing in legislation to 'benefit the aam admi,' the opposition is only indulging in the 'politics of destruction and destabilisation by disturbing the proceedings of the two Houses and not allowing any business to be transacted.'
With the prime minister leaving for a two-nation visit -- first to Belgium (to attend the 11th India-European Union Summit) and then Germany on December 9 and returning on December 12, just the day before the winter session is slated to end -- sources say that the government thinking has been to introduce the bill if it is possible.
So far there were a number of glitches in finalising the bill with some of the provisions being reworked, sources point out.
In its last meeting the Congress core committee also discussed the feasibility of introducing the Women's Reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha amidst the noise and din in Parliament. Sources say there is still no final decision on this.
