New Delhi:
The Joint Parliamentary Committee or JPC will hold its crucial meeting today to discuss and adopt the draft report on the 2G spectrum scam. But the meeting is set to be stormy one as Opposition parties getting ready to corner JPC chairman P C Chacko over clean chit to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
Ahead of the meeting, Mr Chacko told NDTV yesterday that the issue of calling the Prime Minister or the Finance Minister before the committee is a "settled issue". "I am not saying that these issues did not come before the committee. But this does not mean that that is the decision of the committee. Some members might be of the opinion that x be called or y be called but whatever is collectively decided by the committee, that view prevails. That is why we did not call them." (
Watch)
Lawmakers from the Opposition on the committee say Mr Chacko has ignored their objections and absolved the PM and the Finance Minister of any role in the 2G scam. In the controversial report, Mr Chacko has concluded that former telecom minister
A Raja "misled" the Prime Minister. The Opposition wants to vote against the report. The Congress will try to win the vote so that the document is accepted with dissenting notes from the Opposition.
Accused of masterminding one of India's biggest swindles, centred on mobile network licenses and accompanying second-generation (2G) airwaves, Mr Raja has alleged that the PM sanctioned all his policies. Earlier this week, he sent a detailed note to the JPC, alleging that the Prime Minister and Mr Chidambaram were kept informed orally and in writing of all his actions, including tweaking a first-come-first-serve policy in 2008, to decide which companies would get licenses. (
Read)
In a letter written to the Prime Minister on Tuesday, BJP leader Yashwant Sinha asked him to testify for the JPC. "Your silence will confirm... that you were fully involved in the 2G scam and if Sri Raja is guilty, so are you," Mr Sinha said in his letter. (
Read full text of letter here)
The 30-member committee, set up in March 2011, is expected to table its report on 2G scam in Parliament by May 10 when its term ends.
In the JPC, Congress has 11 members, including its chief P C Chacko and its ally NCP has one. The BJP has six members and NDA ally JD(U) two. DMK and BSP have two members each while Samajwadi Party, Biju Janata Dal, Trinamool Congress, AIADMK, Communist Party of India and CPI-M have one member each.