Pranab meets Sushma, Jaitley in a bid to break JPC logjam

New Delhi, Feb 16 (PTI) After the clearest signal fromPrime Minister Manmohan Singh on JPC formation to probe 2Gspectrum scam, government today made a fresh bid to enddeadlock in Parliament as Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjeemet BJP leaders who insisted that JPC should announced onFebruary 22 to enable the House to function normally.

"We requested that announcement for formation of JPCshould be made on (February) 22nd itself so that Parliamentmay resume functioning from that very day," Leader of theOpposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said after the meetingwith Mukherjee.

Swaraj told reporters that BJP will not obstruct thePresident''s Address on February 21.

"But if the JPC probe that we have been demanding isnot announced by the next day, then the proceedings will beobstructed," she added.

Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitleyalso participated in the talks at which Home Minister PChidambaram, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan KumarBansal and Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad were alsopresent.

"We reiterated our demand for a JPC... We are hopefulthat the government will accept our demand and the impassewill be resolved," Swaraj said on Twitter.

She maintained during her interaction with reportersthat there "appears to be some softening of stand on the partof the government".

The meeting took place close on the heels of the PrimeMinister stating in an interaction with editors today morningthat he was not afraid of appearing before JPC.

"Full efforts are being undertaken to see that some waywill be found (to ensure that Parliament functions). I hope itwill happen," Singh said.

The logjam had resulted in the complete washout of thewinter session of Parliament.

Sources said the two BJP leaders insisted that a motionbe moved in the Lok Sabha on February 22 so that there is nodelay and Parliament functioning is not disrupted.

"We stuck to our demand that a JPC probe is required tounearth details of these three scams (CWG, 2G and Adarsh)However, it is now up to the government to arrive at adecision," Swaraj said.