New Delhi: National Democratic Alliance (NDA) allies Samata Party and Janata Dal-United (JD-U) along with the Opposition in the Lok Sabha on April 30 strongly demanded that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee should take the House into confidence on the 'hand of friendship' extended by him to Pakistan and other related developments.

Recalling the failure of the Agra Summit attended by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf in 2001, Prabhunath Singh (Samata Party) and D P Yadav (JD-U) said the entire country was in the dark on the initiative taken by the Prime Minister.

"It is a serious matter and the House should be taken into confidence," they said, demanding that Vajpayee should make a statement.

Raising the issue in the post-lunch session, Congress deputy leader Shivraj V Patil said while the Opposition did not want to know details of the developments, the government should proceed with due preparation.

Echoing similar sentiments, Ramjilal Suman (SP) wanted to know whether a congenial atmosphere had been created for talks with Pakistan, which has been sponsoring cross-border terrorism.

Responding to members' concern, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said she would convey their feelings to the Prime Minister.

Shortly after the House assembled on April 30 Prabhunath Singh said reports had appeared in newspapers that Vajpayee and his Pakistani counterpart had a telephonic talk and that he was even invited to visit Islamabad.

"We are not against dialogue, but there must be some basis for it," he said, recalling that whenever India initiated peace talks, "we had to face problems".

PTI