Hold talks with Oppn to break impasse: Mamata

DEADLOCK: Meeting of all political parties is needed to resolve issue

While reiterating her support to the UPA government currently battling to end an impasse over the stalled Parliament session,key UPA ally Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said that the government should engage the Opposition in a dialogue to find a solution.

We must take Opposition into confidence. Our view is that if any issue or scandal is raised then there must be full debate on it. Opposition must raise the issue as it is their prerogative. It is democracy and it is their prerogative to raise the issue, she said in Delhi after separate meetings with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram.

Seeking an all-party meeting on the matter,Mamata said that it was up to all the parties to decide in what format they would like to have a dialogue. Meeting of all political parties is needed to resolve the issue. On what format Opposition wants discussion must be discussed with them. There are so many big issues,it can be sorted out through talks and discussion in a parliamentary democracy, she said.

Mamata said her party remained opposed to FDI in all forms,including in Aviation,Pension,Insurance,and Retail. We are not in favour of FDI8230; Air India should be saved,yes,but worldwide,wherever there is FDI,the workers suffer.

Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra will be coming to Delhi after the monsoon session and meet Chidambaram to work out a relief package for the state an attempt that was unsuccessful a few months ago when Pranab Mukherjee was the Finance Minister.

Sources said the Centre was willing to give around Rs 20,000 crore to the state but what Mamata wants is a three-year moratorium on the annual interest the state pays for the loans.

In the meeting with the Finance Minister,Mamata pressed for subsidy on fertilizers,a demand she had been making for sometime now. The government must realise that poor farmers cannot afford the rising prices of fertilizers. What Punjabs big farmers can afford,the poor farmers of Bengal cannot,so they must realise that. The FM has said that he will consider the matter, she said.

Gherao PM,Gadkari residences: Kejriwal

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NEW DELHI: Upping the ante against both the government and Opposition,RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal,now poised at the brink of a political debut,announced that the residences of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and BJP president Nitin Gadkari would be picketed on August 26. Kejriwal tweeted: PM and Nitin Gadkari ke ghar ka gherao. Lets assemble at Jantar Mantar sun 26 Aug 10 am. Congress aur BJP ne milkar desh ko luta 1.86 lakh crore coal scam. The reference is to the CAG report on alleged irregularities in the allotment of coal blocks while Singh was the minister in charge. This could cause some embarrassment to BJP which has been supporting the erstwhile Team Anna.

Coal allocation: Naveen hits back at Centre

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday hit back at the Centre over coal block allotment scam,saying his government has been rooting for auction-based process for coal block allotment for long. Naveen said his government has been asking for auction process for allocation of mineral resources including coal for the last few years. While the Centre has done it for coal recently,it is yet to do it for other minerals. I have been demanding for mineral rent resource tax on the supernormal profits made by private iron ore mines. This has been rejected by the Centre on extremely flimsy grounds, he said. This itself shows the attitude of the central government.

PAC to examine CAG report

NEW DELHI: Amidst the current high-voltage battle between the government and the Opposition over the CAG report on coal block allocation,the Public Accounts Committee PAC on Thursday decided to examine the report of the government auditor.

PAC chairman Murli Manohar Joshi disclosed that the committee had also decided to examine the CAG reports on Delhi International Airport Ltd,Ultra Mega Power Plants and Atomic Energy Regulatory Board AERB. All four reports were tabled in Parliament last week.