Setting the stage for a possible showdown with the Opposition NDA in the winter session of parliament beginning on November 23, the Congress is understood to have opposed discussing the issue of Mitrokhin papers in the House. The Mitrokhin papers had alleged that the KGB had given funds to the Congress and the CPI during the Cold War years.Meeting Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee ahead of the session over dinner here tonight, the Congress leaders, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party chief Sonia Gandhi, conveyed that the party was willing to discuss all issues raised by NDA on the floor of the House barring the subject of Mitrokhin papers, sources said.The Congress’ objections to a discussion on the Mitrokhin issue was that since Mitrokhin papers were published in the form of a ‘‘fiction’’ and the House cannot discuss a ‘‘fiction’’, they said.The NDA had already indicated that it would be aggressive on the Mitrokhin issue and was determined to rake up the issue of the Volcker Committee report to put the government on the mat.The Congress leaders, said the sources, also said that the Home Minister, Shivraj Patil, would make a statement in the Parliament on the serial blasts in Delhi on Diwali-eve, Naxal attacks on Jehanabad jail and police barracks and terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir in a bid to address the Opposition’s concerns about the law and order in the country.No Congress leader spoke to the media after the 75-minute meeting with the Speaker.
