Khurshid favours reaching out to Oppn, allies on Lok Pal

Law Minister Salman Khurshid has favoured reaching out to the Opposition as also allies on the issue of Lok Pal and other issues and dismissed suggestions that Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee was a 'difficult customer'.

Even as the slugfest continued between the Congress and the BJP over the Lok Pal Bill getting stuck in the Rajya Sabha, Khurshid said the government should reach out to the Opposition on a priority basis.

"...I think we should now make that a priority reaching out to Opposition because there are many issues on which they share our concerns. They should not just hold back because they believe holding back gives them an advantage... We should convince them about this," he said.

Khurshid also said that "genuine concerns" of UPA's allies should be addressed.

"Then we have our own allies as well who have genuine concern and I think we should address those genuine concerns. We can find a solution...," he said.

When asked whether government will find it difficult to reach out to BJP as most in Congress think of that party as 'political pariahs', he said "if you live in the same house, you will stop thinking of pariahs. And we are in the same house."

"We have to shake hands, we have to get our eyeballs meet. We have helped them and they have helped us in matters that are of critical importance to the country," he said adding that during a war, parties do not score political points over each other.