Sources privy to the developments hoped that a way out could be found on the demand of BJP members of calling Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram as witnesses before the JPC.
Committee chairman P C Chacko is for consensus on ticklish decisions on which the JPC is divided on party lines and has briefed the Speaker following walkout by BJP members on two occasions on the issue of witnesses.
After Kumar assured Chacko that she will talk to BJP members, he cancelled today's meeting in which Attorney General G E Vahanvati was to appear as a witness."There is a difference of opinion. I don't think there is a lack of confidence in me. For one-and-a-half years it was been held in a cordial atmosphere. There has been a misunderstanding. I think they will come back," Chacko said here.
The decision to cancel the meeting also comes against the backdrop of differences among Congress members of the Committee over calling the Attorney General as a witness.Some Congress members, including Manish Tewari, had claimed a lawyer can't be asked to appear before a committee on the advice he has given to the government as it was against the principles of governance.