Pranab Mukherjee speaks to Sitaram Yechury on Parliament deadlock

Sticking to its demand for a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) into the second generation mobile bandwidth scam, the CPI(M) today put the onus to ensure smooth functioning of Parliament on the government. The government approached the Left party to break the deadlock in the two Houses.Finance minister and leader of the House in Lok Sabha Pranab Mukherjee spoke to senior CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury on phone over the continuous disruption of proceedings in Parliament."We have been insisting that the spectrum issue merits an enquiry by a JPC. We continue with our demand," Yechury told PTI from Mumbai.

He said it is the government's responsibility to ensure that the two Houses function. "We have always wanted Parliament to function and have even been demanding constitutional amendment to ensure that the House sits for at least 100 days a year," he said.Parliament has been witnessing a deadlock for almost two weeks over the demand for a JPC probe into the 2G mobile spectrum allocation.