Govt to mollify Mamata on Lok Pal Bill

Home Minister P Chidambaram today sought to mollify Mamata Banerjee on the Lok Pal issue but there was a feeling of unease in the party over the repeated embarrassments caused by the ally on major issues.

"There are differences among UPA allies. I would not go so far as to say that there is a pattern in confrontational behaviour [of Trinamool Congress]," Chidambaram told reporters a day after the key UPA constituent broke ranks by giving amendments to the Bill in the Rajya Sabha.

The Home Minister, who had tried to persuade Mamata at the last minute against pressing the amendments, said the Government could still "refine" the clause on Lokayukta in the Bill to take care of her concerns.

Chidambaram suggested that Trinamool Congress was party to the decision on inclusion of Lokayukta in the Bill as the matter was discussed in the Union Cabinet which has a representative of Mamata's party.

Besides, he pointed out that Trinamool had supported the Bill in the Lok Sabha. "But later they changed. We will have to sit and discuss."

Another senior Congress leader, meanwhile, noted that it was not the first time that the Trinamool Congress has caused embarrassment to the UPA government.

Earlier, she had put the government in a spot on FDI in retail and forced the government to drop an agreement with Bangladesh on Teesta river water sharing during the Prime Minister's visit to Dhaka in September.

On the Lok Pal issue, the Congress leader, on condition of anonymity, said Chidambaram had read out the amended clause on the Lokayukta to Mamata to win her support but failed as she insisted on deletion of Part III of the Bill.