Wednesday, January 18 2006 16:20 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Congress has sought to address the Left concerns in the wake of the latest controversy in the Bofors case, with Sonia Gandhi telling them that the party-led coalition had no knowledge about the CBI decision to allow defreezing of Ottavio Quattrocchi's London bank accounts.

Asserting that the Government was not pressurising any investigating agency, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Chairperson told Communist Party of India (CPI) Marxist (M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury that the Bofors case, which was dragging on for the past 20 years, should reach a conclusion soon, sources said.

Gandhi's clarification came in the wake of the CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat and RSP leader Abani Roy asking the government to explain why the decision to defreeze the Quattrocchi accounts was taken.

At an hour-long meeting here yesterday, Yechury told Gandhi that the Left parties would go ahead with their decision to protest the proposed visit of US President George Bush.

The two leaders also discussed the phone tapping episode involving Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh, with Gandhi telling the CPI(M) leader that Congress would continue to support the Mulayam Singh Government in Uttar Pradesh.