It is not in BJPs DNA to be bipartisan: Govt

It is deeply unfortunate that BJP should have so quickly given up whatever pretence of bipartisanship was shown two days ago8230;.It is not in the DNA of BJP to maintain bipartisanship, Chidambaram told a press conference along with Bansal.

He slammed Swaraj and Jaitley for addressing the media on the Delhi High Court bomb blast,saying he did not recall Leaders of Opposition after Parliament attack in December 2001 when NDA was in power holding a press conference.

Bansal said out of 140-hour Monsoon session,66 hours were lost due to uproar created by BJP even though the government had expressed readiness to hold discussions on any issue.

Earlier in the day,Swaraj and Jaitley,addressing the media,said the Monsoon session of Parliament not only exposed faultlines within the Congress party and the UPA government,but also a lack of cohesion between them.

Swaraj said the Congress and the government were faced with a divide within over the handling of the Anna Hazare issue. While one section favoured a resolution of the matter through discussions,another wanted the agitation crushed. Similarly,Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi advocated a constitutional body and the government wanted otherwise. Differences also cropped up within the Cabinet over the sports Bill. Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal faced opposition from his own party members in the Rajya Sabha. In contrast,the Opposition,which appeared divided initially during the price-rise debate,closed its ranks as the session progressed and put the government in the dock.

Jaitley said,The credibility of this government has hit very low. He said there had been two defining moments on the sidelines of the session one,the Ramlila Maidan fast of Anna Hazare emerged as a symbol of mass aspirations,and two,the hostile reception received by ministers and Congress leaders at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital when they went to the see the people injured in the bomb blast.

He said,Obviously,you cannot have one general secretary Digvijaya Singh hold forth at the Batla House and another at RML Hospital consoling the victims of terrorism.

In an apparent dig at the Prime Minister,Jaitley said,Saying we have zero tolerance towards terrorism is not enough; bringing it to a zero level is important. He cited six terror attacks Sheetalaghat Varanasi,Chinnaswamy Stadium Bangalore,German Bakery Pune,Jama Masjid Delhi and serial blasts Mumbai,besides the previous Delhi High Court blast and said,Neither was there prior information or actionable intelligence nor had any leads been found by NIA and other agencies till now.

Regarding the Gujarat Lokayukta issue,Swaraj said the BJP had got hints from people in high places that they appreciated the fact that the Governor had bypassed the state government. However,they could not intervene due to opposition from the state Congress.

The party is with him, she said in reply to a question on Advanis proposed anti-corruption yatra. She said the Central Parliamentary Board of the party had endorsed the yatra.