Amid demands for calling Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram as witnesses before the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on 2G, BJP members in the panel, on Thursday, once again abstained from its proceedings.
During the last meeting of JPC on October 11, the BJP members had stayed away while accusing JPC Chairman P Chacko of failing to finalise the list of witnesses and include the Prime Minister and Mr Chidambaram in it.
BJP has six members in JPC.
In July and September, BJP members had stormed out of the meeting accusing Mr Chacko of being “biased” and accused Congress members of using foul language against them.
BJP Leader Yashwant Sinha, who is a member of JPC, had dashed off a letter to Mr Chacko earlier this week saying that the body is of a “special nature” and, hence, a precedent can be set by calling the Prime Minister.
He had maintained the Prime Minister was directly involved in certain decisions on 2G spectrum allocation and “he and he alone” can answer some of the questions related it.
Mr Sinha had also said the Prime Minister had offered to present himself before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on the same issue and, therefore, he should not have any objection to facing JPC.
BJP has clearly told Mr Chacko that it will not attend the JPC meetings till the list of witnesses is finalised and the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister are summoned.
Mr Chacko had earlier sought directions from the Speaker on the issue of summoning Mr Chidambaram, but the Speaker had informed Mr Chacko that the Committee has to first take a decision on the issue before approaching her and it was, therefore, “premature to intervene at this stage”.
Keywords: 2G spectrum, JPC, Yashwant Sinha, P.C. Chacko, BJP, JPC proceedings
In the theatre of absurd, this JPC proceedings on 2G must be the most farcical exercise
going on. Presided by a party which looked the OTHERWAY when the loot was planned and
executed and supported by its allies whose leaders are charged with disproportionate assets
what kind of mockery of democracy is going on? No wonder even the son in law of the
"chosen" dynasty has called this banana republic. Bofors came and went, fodder scandals
came and went, Taj corridor came and went... add to the pile of scams one more. objectively
looking, this country's chance of survival is very slim.
Our parliamentary system,like other systems,seems to have broken down
due to politicization of each and every issue.Our netas don't bother
about their duty to serve the people who elected them but keen to
score brownie points and ensure that they have the numbers to survive
in power by hook or crook.And, the worst offender is the Congress
party.With a minority of members it is dominating the so called UPA-
ignoring even the alliance partners- in looting the resources of the
country.All positions are filled up by Congress M.Ps and JPC should be
headed by an opposition member.The speaker must be an independent and
the President must be a person of social standing with integrity and
reputation for fairness,justice etc.,Like the parliament no committee
is working and the system of checks and balances has been thrown to
the winds.
By boycotting JPC meeting, BJP is playing into the hands of Congress. The JPC is stacked in favour of the Government. Instead of boycotting, the responsible opposition should attend and find ways of making the functioning of the JPC more democratic.
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