Kan mulls resigning in exchange for passing key bills+

TOKYO, June 20 Kyodo -
Prime Minister Naoto Kan could step down in July in exchange for obtaining opposition cooperation to pass a new extra budget and a bill needed for the government to issue deficit-covering bonds in fiscal 2011, ruling party lawmakers said Monday.
Amid mounting pressure from senior lawmakers of his Democratic Party of Japan, Kan is expected to make it clearer in the coming days when he would leave office, the lawmakers said.
The DPJ-led government is seeking to pass the second supplementary budget by around mid-July to fund additional relief measures for victims of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
But the exact timing of Kan's resignation is still uncertain as the premier is also eager to pass a bill aimed at promoting the use of renewable energy in the current ordinary Diet session.
DPJ Secretary General Katsuya Okada told his counterparts from opposition parties that Kan is ''very enthusiastic'' about working out the extra budget, the bond issuance bill and the renewable energy bill, according to Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Nobuteru Ishihara.
Ishihara also told reporters they were told by Okada that the DPJ is hoping to stretch the Diet session to around Oct. 20 from its scheduled end Wednesday.
New Komeito Secretary General Yoshihisa Inoue told reporters that one another reason for the extension is that the DPJ is considering submitting a sizable third extra budget to the Diet somewhere between mid-August and early September.
To avoid legislative gridlock, Kan could hold a news conference this week to articulate conditions for his resignation, depending on the results of his meeting with DPJ executives Monday night, said the senior lawmakers, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
''The prime minister will explain it by saying he will do this and that (before his resignation,)'' one of the DPJ senior lawmakers said. ''It's up to Kan to decide whether to hold a news conference.''
If Kan holds a news conference, he is expected to call for opposition parties to cooperate in passing the extra budget and the two bills before his departure.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano, who attended the night meeting that lasted for about two hours, told reporters that Kan and the DPJ executives confirmed the importance of ''amicably prolonging the Diet session'' by consulting closely with the opposition camp.
''That's all,'' said Edano, the top government spokesman, when asked whether they discussed the timing of the premier's resignation.
On Monday, Kan told a parliamentary session that ''the most important'' aspect of being Japan's leader is making efforts to create an environment in which both ruling and opposition parties can work together to deal with a host of challenges facing the country.
Kan made the remarks before a bill outlining Japan's basic scheme for the reconstruction work was passed in the Diet with also backing from the LDP and other opposition parties.
The main opposition party and its ally New Komeito for weeks have urged Kan to immediately quit after the reconstruction bill's passage.
The DPJ's Okada and other senior lawmakers held a meeting Sunday with Kan and advised the 64-year-old premier not to leave the exact timing of his resignation vague any longer, according to sources familiar with the matter.
But the lawmakers and Kan did not reach a deal as the premier expressed resolve to also pass a bill aimed at increasing Japan's dependence on renewable energy, such as solar and wind, following the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant triggered by the quake-tsunami disaster, the sources said.
If the passage of the energy bill also becomes a condition for Kan's resignation, it is possible he will not be replaced until August or later.
Okada and his opposition counterparts said they will meet again Tuesday morning to discuss the length of the Diet session's extension.
However, Edano said at a news conference Monday that any extension of the session will have ''no correlation with'' Kan's resignation.
The LDP has said it would support the idea of stretching the Diet session if Kan's early resignation becomes certain.
In early June, Kan survived a no-confidence motion by promising he will turn over his job to the younger generation once certain progress is made in rebuilding the disaster-stricken region and containing the nuclear crisis.