Cong-SP panel this week

NEW DELHI: A Congress-Samajwadi Party co-ordination panel for sorting out policy issues will be constituted this week. The Congress side will be represented by party president Sonia Gandhi, PM Manmohan Singh, external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee and defence minister AK Antony. SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and party general secretary Amar Singh will be the other members of the group.

The constitution of the panel was part of the agreement worked out between the two sides just before the trust vote. Both sides were of the view that important policy measures should be discussed by a mechanism for ensuring greater cohesion.

Although the government had a similar arrangement with the Left, the latter���s dogmatic approach more than often forced the ruling side to shelve contentious issues. The legislations for reforming the financial sector could not get off the ground because of the Left���s opposition.