Lunch diplomacy fails, parliament logjam on

NEW DELHI - Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar’s luncheon meeting Tuesday failed to end the stalemate over demands for a parliamentary probe into the allotment of 2G spectrum with the government and the opposition refusing to budge from their stated positions.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, at a nearly two-and-a-half hour meeting, rejected the opposition’s demand for a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into what is being called the spectrum scam of 2008.

Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj told reporters that all opposition parties were on the same page in demanding a JPC into the alleged irregularities in the allotment of spectrum that is believed to have caused huge losses to the national exchequer.

She rejected the government’s offer of letting the Supreme Court monitor a probe into the scam. Tuesday was the 13th day of parliament’s paralysis over the government-opposition standoff.