New Delhi:
The government will make another effort to break the deadlock in Parliament as the Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee will hold another meeting with Opposition leaders on Monday.
This will be the second time Mr Mukherjee will be meeting Opposition leaders to convince them to allow business in Parliament.
The meeting takes place on a day BJP, which has launched an offensive against Congress on corruption, is likely to take a call on Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa.
The BJP is adamant on their demand for Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe but the government is holding out, saying the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) headed by MM Joshi will look into it.
A Congress core group met at the Prime Minister's residence at 7 Race Course Road on Sunday evening. (
Read: Congress crisis meet to break deadlock in Parliament)
The meeting was attended by Party President Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Home Minister P Chidambaram, Defence Minister AK Antony and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
Sources tell NDTV, the core group discussed the Government's floor strategy in Parliament and the Opposition's demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) into the 2G spectrum scam. The Congress top brass also debated should a JPC, if constituted, also probe the telecom policies of the NDA regime, especially the National Telecom Policy of 1999.
Parliament has come to a standstill since Winter Session began on November 9 with the Opposition repeatedly stalling proceedings with 'we want JPC' slogan.
(Read: Deadlock to cut Parliament session short?)"We are prepared to discuss. We have nothing to suppress or hide anything and you know the right forum is Parliament, and not just running away from the actual debate in a democracy, which should take place in a Parliamentary form," Law Minister Veerappa Moily said.
The Opposition contends that a CBI inquiry already underway cannot be taken seriously because the CBI functions as an extension of the government which uses it to protect allies and settle scores with political rivals.
(Watch: Want action, not debate on 2G scam says BJP)The government has stressed that a JPC is not required because a thorough audit of the 2G allocation will be studied by the Public Accounts Committee which is headed by a leader of the Opposition, and will therefore not protect the government.
(Read: Allow Parliament to function, PM tells Opposition)The Prime Minister on Saturday broke his silence, he said any body who is at fault will be punished but will this calm the Opposition? (
Read: PM breaks his silence)
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Monday will hear petition filed by Centre for Public Interest Litigation, asking the top court to monitor 2G probe. Supreme Court will hear the PM's
affidavit on 2G tomorrow. (
Read: PM's affidavit)