Parliament logjam

The Congress’s last-ditch effort to salvage a few working days of the monsoon session and de-escalate the confrontation over the CAG report on coal block allocations has come unstuck, with the BJP spurning Sonia Gandhi’s peace overture.
Opposition leader in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj told Sonia on Friday the BJP could not consider letting Parliament function until the UPA scrapped the allocations and ordered a judicial inquiry into the issue following the CAG’s censure for benefiting private players.
Swaraj had first conveyed the BJP’s bottom line to the Congress chief when she had called on Thursday appealing for an end to the disruptions that have hit the monsoon session.
BJP sources said Sonia did not turn down Swaraj's demand at once, and told Swaraj that she would get back after holding consultations with PM Manmohan Singh and her other colleagues.
However, when Sonia called on Friday after the PM’s return from Tehran, she reportedly expressed her inability to concede to the BJP’s demand. Although she renewed her pitch that the opposition should allow a debate in Parliament on Coalgate, it was turned down by Swaraj.