In a stormy meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament, BJP members prevailed upon chairperson and former Union Minister K.V. Thomas to give his assent to a clarification that the committee did not have the powers to summon either Prime Minister Narendra Modi or any other Minister with regard to any issue before it.
Mr. Thomas had declared that the PAC was within its rights to summon Mr. Modi as the committee was examining monetary policy and the issue of demonetisation. BJP MP Nishikant Dubey had previously written to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan protesting against the assertion by Mr. Thomas. At Friday’s meeting, MPs from the ruling party strongly objected to the statement. An MP present at the meeting said BJP MP Kirit Somaiyya objected to Mr. Thomas talking about summoning the Prime Minister.
According to the MP, Mr. Somaiyya also objected toMr. Thomas talking of summoning officials of the Finance Ministry with just days to go for the Union Budget to be presented. Senior BJP MP Bhupendra Yadav and Nishikant Dubey also raised objections on the same lines.
In response, Mr. Thomas reportedly said that he had meant that if there was consensus in the committee then it could summon the Prime Minister. He also asked ruling party MPs to be cautious about attempts to “kill the institution” of the PAC.
As things got heated up, Bhratruhari Mahtab of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and P. Venugopal of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) intervened and said the committee should just clarify the rules on the issue and issue a press release. This was agreed to by all sides, a source said.
Referring to the Speaker’s directions related to the rules overseeing financial committees and those concerning calling Prime Minister/Ministers, the committee said in a release, “Ministers shall not be called before the Committee either to give evidence or consultation in connection with the examination of estimates of accounts.”
Opposition parties, however, continued to claim victory on account of of the second part of the clarification that states, “however, [the] chairperson, when [it is] considered necessary but after its [committee’s] deliberations are concluded, may have an informal interaction with the Minister.”
According to one Opposition MP who was present at Friday’s meeting, this meant that “the chairperson’s position has been validated, whereas earlier Mr. Thomas had spoken of a unanimous decision by the committee, here the chair was empowered to meet up with ministers on his/her own discretion.”
The BJP, however, did not give any currency to this assertion. “The first part is categorical,” said a senior BJP leader.
This is not the first time that a controversy has arisen in the PAC over the question of summoning the Prime Minister. During the UPA government, too, then PAC Chairperson Murli Manohar Joshi’s decision to summon Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in connection with the 2G scam had triggered a massive row with Congress members strongly objecting to it. Mr. Joshi was overruled at the time as the ruling coalition enjoyed a majority in the committee.
