Kan's bipartisan offer shunned by opposition leader+

TOKYO, March 19 Kyodo -
Prime Minister Naoto Kan tried unsuccessfully Saturday to talk opposition leader Sadakazu Tanigaki into helping him form a bipartisan government and joining it as vice premier and special minister handling earthquake relief work.
Kan made the offer over the phone saying to Tanigaki that he needed Tanigaki's help to rebuild the northeastern and eastern regions following the March 11 devastating earthquake and tsunami, according to lawmakers of Kan's Democratic Party of Japan.
Kan revealed a plan to form a government that consists of lawmakers both from the DPJ and the LDP to overcome the ongoing national crisis, the DPJ lawmakers said.
But Tanigaki, who heads the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party, said at a press conference, ''Asking me to join the Cabinet means (the prime minister) will break up the current coalition government. We cannot have such discussions without policy agreements.''
LDP Vice President Tadamori Oshima and other executives backed Tanigaki's position branding Kan's offer ''childish.''
LDP chief policymaker Shigeru Ishiba told reporters that efforts on reaching consensus over fiscal and security policies between the two parties should come first.
''Asking for our help in disaster relief without such discussions (in fiscal and security matters), it means the premier is asking us to do what we will never be able to do,'' Ishiba said.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano declined to elaborate on the matter during a press conference.
Kan's move came after the DPJ proposed Friday to increase the number of ministers by three and, if possible, invite Tanigaki and other opposition party leaders to join a new government.
Kan has been calling for cross-party cooperation. But opposition parties are cautious about having too close ties with the government, given that before the quake occurred, they had been strongly pressuring Kan, whose Cabinet public support was very low, to step down.