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PM asks Oppn to return to Parliament
PM Manmohan Singh on Thursday made a fresh appeal to the Opposition to end its boycott of Parliament that began a week ago.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday made a fresh appeal to the Opposition to end its boycott of Parliament that began a week ago, saying the Government was ready to discuss any issue with them.
"I again appeal to leaders of the Opposition (in the two houses) to join the proceedings," Manmohan Singh said in the Rajya Sabha.
"This Government is ready to discuss all issues and there is no issue, which is barred from discussion," he said.
The Opposition has been boycotting parliamentary proceedings since April 28, demanding the dismissal of Railway Minister Lalu Prasad after he was chargesheeted in a multi-million-rupee fodder scam.
However, the prime minister has clarified that he would not drop the minister because he had not been convicted.
Singh said disturbances in the proceedings of Parliament in the last few weeks had caused "great dismay" to him and to the Government.
The prime minister said he had requested former Prime Minister and National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Chairperson Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and leaders of the Opposition in the two houses, LK Advani and Jaswant Singh, to end the stalemate.
He also said one of the Opposition leaders, who he did not want to name, had promised him that they would return to the house on Monday for the Finance Bill and continue attending the house for the week.
The NDA had said on Wednesday that they would continue the boycott till May 13, when the session ends. The Telugu Desam Party (TDP), however, took part in the proceedings on Thursday.
