A common bickering platform

Laloo, the sources said, made a plea for fresh assembly elections in Bihar in view of a fractured verdict thrown up in the recent polls, but the Lok Janshakti Party leader objected to it and argued that elections could not be held after every six months. Paswan praised the functioning of Governor Buta Singh and noted the positive developments in the state.

Laloo also raised the issue of the recent attack on him during his visit to a hospital in Vadodara after a train accident.

Leaders of Left parties, Congress leader Ahmed Patel and Laloo also sought to know why the Government was unable to hand over six riot cases to the CBI even after a Supreme Court directive. This prompted one of the participants to raise a question mark over the CBI’s credibility. He asked Patil to reveal the number of cases pending with the CBI. At this, Patil expressed his inability, contending that he did not control the CBI, the sources said.

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Shibu Soren used the occasion to make a plea for his reinduction into the Cabinet. He reportedly said: ‘‘I was a Chief Minister only for eight days, but now I am neither here (at the Centre) nor there (in Jharkhand).’’

RPI leader Ramdas Athavale wanted a grant of Rs 50 crore for the development of Chatiya Bhoomi, a memorial for B.R. Ambedkar, in Mumbai.

Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh was in for an embarrassment. When he claimed that 15,000 hectares of surplus land was available in the country for distribution, one of the participants pointed out that the Gujarat Government alone had offered 60 lakh hectares of land to the co-operative sector.

Presentations by Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee and External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh overlapped a little. And when Left members turned critical on the resumption of arms supply to Nepal, Mukherjee reportedly said that if India does not meet Nepal’s military needs, someone else (implying China and Pakistan) would.

Much against the public talk of providing reservation to weaker sections in the private sector, the UPA report card on social sector — empowerment of weaker sections — presented by Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Meira Kumar, Tribal Affairs Minister P.R. Kyndiah and Labour Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao did not spell out any significant forward movement. Meira Kumar only said that the GoM, set up for affirmative action, had met thrice.

Discussions went on uninterrupted for over eight hours, sources said, adding that the participants did not even take a break for meals — they had to make do with a working lunch served during the deliberations.