Bharatiya Janata Party and the Left parties on Monday criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for rejecting a JPC probe into the 2G scam, saying only a Joint Parliamentary Committee can go into the “depth” of the multi-crore scandal.
Commenting on Dr. Singh’s offer to appear before the Public Accounts Committee, which is currently looking into the issue, BJP spokesperson Prakash Javdekar said, “JPC is not an unconstitutional demand by the opposition. The PM’s willingness to appear before the PAC will only serve a very limited mandate.
“When he is ready to come and answer any question before the PAC, why not JPC? JPC is not something unconstitutional. It is a parliamentary practice and a provision,” he said.
Mr. Javdekar alleged that the Prime Minister is making a distinction between the PAC and the JPC because he “knows very well that the mandate of the PAC will be limited.
“The Prime Minister definitely is guilty of not supervising and not checking corruption when they were happening,” he said.
Meanwhile, Communist Party of India national secretary D. Raja questioned the Congress party and the Prime Minister for making JPC as “such a contentious issue.”
Noting that the JPC is a mechanism, which consists of members from both the Opposition and ruling parties, Mr. Raja said, “JPC would be better mechanism to go into the depth of the 2G Spectrum scam”.
Alleging that the government “abused” all the telecom policies in order to favour a few companies, Mr. Raja said the JPC can suggest what should be the amendment to the existing policies so that such scams never occur.
Dr. Singh, addressing the Congress plenary, said he would be “happy” to appear before the PAC in the 2G spectrum issue as he has nothing to hide.
He also accused the Opposition of “obduracy” over the demand for the JPC probe into the issue, saying it would serve no purpose.
