Law Minister Salman Khurshid has favoured reaching out to the Opposition as also allies on the issue of Lokpal and other issues and dismissed suggestions
that Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee was a 'difficult customer'.

Even as the slugfest continued between the Congress and the BJP over the Lokpal Bill getting stuck in the Rajya Sabha, Khurshid said the government should reach out to the Opposition on a priority basis.

Talking to Karan Thapar on 'India Tonight' programme on CNBC, Khurshid also said that "genuine concerns" of UPA's allies should be addressed.

When asked whether government will find it difficult to reach out to BJP as most in Congress think of that party as 'political pariahs', he said "if you live in the same house, you will stop thinking of pariahs. And we are in the same
house.

"We have to shake hands, we have to get our eyeballs meet. We have helped them and they have helped us in matters that are of critical importance to the country," he said.

To a question on Mamata Banerjee, Khurshid scoffed at suggestions that she was 'difficult customer'. "She is not a difficult customer... her politics is
politics of passion. She has great conviction, she is a very very determined person. When you have someone of that nature, you need some technique to communicate better. I think we'll work on that," he said.