Govt. to pass Pension Bill after consulting TMC: Mukherjee

Kolkata, June 9 (ANI): Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said the government will pass the Pension Bill after consulting its key ally Trinamool Congress.

"No, we shall have to discuss with the TMC. They have also written to us that further discussions are required. So let us discuss," he told media here on Friday.

The bill, which proposes to allow foreign direct investment up to 26 percent in the sector, has a history of running into trouble.

The government on June 7 deferred a decision on a legislative bill that seeks to throw open the country's pension sector to foreign investors after the key ally Trinamool Congress (TMC) sought more deliberations over the issue.

Meanwhile, Mukherjee also defended Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram over the Madras High Court's order on a case pertaining to the validity of his election, in 2009, from the Sivaganga parliamentary constituency in Tamil Nadu,

"These two charges have been dropped and rest of the mater, they have suggested as contained in the petition, will be heard in the court. There are so many cases after every election. So many candidates place so many cases. So what," added Mukherjee.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been mounting pressure on the UPA Government to sack Chidambaram over this issue.

Chidambaram had earlier on Thursday said that the Madras High Court's order on a case pertaining to the validity of his election, in 2009, from the Sivaganga parliamentary constituency in Tamil Nadu, was not a setback for him, but a setback for the petitioner.

He said that there were 111 such petitions pending in court against members of the Lok Sabha and the Election Commissionof India.

The Madras High Court earlier refused to reject a plea filed by All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader RS Raja Kannappan challenging the former's election from the Sivaganga constituency in the May 2009 Lok Sabha elections, making way for the Home Minister's trial.

Kannappan, who narrowly lost to Chidambaram by 3,354 votes, had alleged rigging and "manipulation" of elections, and had filed the petition seeking declaration of the election as void.

He had claimed that votes secured by him in the 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th rounds of counting in the Alangudi assembly segment were "ingeniously added to Chidambaram's kitty and vice versa". (ANI)