Sonia holds parleys with Pranab, Antony on 2G, K'taka

Congress president Sonia Gandhi today held parleys with senior party leaders Pranab Mukherjee, A K Antony and Ghulam Nabi Azad in the wake of the continuing stalemate in Parliament over 2G spectrum issue and the political situation in BJP-ruled Karnataka.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi today held parleys with senior party leaders Pranab Mukherjee, A K Antony and Ghulam Nabi Azad in the wake of the continuing stalemate in Parliament over 2G spectrum issue and the political situation in BJP-ruled Karnataka.

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No solution is in sight over Opposition's demand for a JPC probe into 2G spectrum scam as government has ruled out any such probe. Party leaders remained tight lipped on what transpired at the meeting in which Gandhi's political secretary Ahmed Patel was also present.

Gandhi's meeting with Azad, who is the AICC in-charge for Karnataka, comes a day when Chief Minister of the BJP-ruled state B S Yeddyurappa was in the national capital and held meetings with the central leadership of his party amid pressure on him to resign in wake of the land allotment controversy involving his kins.

Earlier in the day, Mukherjee had held two luncheon meetings with Opposition leaders on the issue of JPC. A day before, Congress core group had also discussed the matter but the deadlock could not be resolved.

A section of the party, however, feels that there is no harm in agreeing to JPC as it will be chaired by a member of the ruling party in any case and Parliament can not be allowed to be disrupted permanently. A number of leaders in Congress as well as some ministers, speaking on condition of anonymity, said government may have to concede to the opposition's demand for a JPC.