Senior BJP leader and Public Accounts Committee Chairman Murli Manohar Joshi on Sunday accused the Congress of creating hurdles to the PAC probe into the 2G spectrum scam. The party tried to stop the presentation of the draft report on the 2G scam, he alleged, but asserted that he would continue the probe and expose the “wrongdoings” of the Union government.
When the Parliamentary Committee decided to summon the Law Secretary, the Cabinet Secretary, the CBI Director and the then Attorney-General, the Congress MPs protested, the PAC Chairman said.
The Congress MPs said there was no need to summon them as the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) was investigating the spectrum controversy, he told journalists here. However, with the intervention of Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, the matter was resolved as she clarified that the PAC and the JPC would work simultaneously, Dr. Joshi said.
The statements of the officers could not be recorded properly as the Congress members created “hurdles” to the investigation, he said.
Somehow the report was completed but the Congress tried to stop its presentation, Dr. Joshi alleged.
“Since the finger of suspicion was pointed towards the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister, who kept mum despite knowing everything related to the 2G spectrum, the Congress rejected the report,” he said.
Constitutional body
“The PAC is a constitutional body. How can they reject its report? If this is the case, tomorrow they can reject laws enacted by Parliament and orders passed by the Supreme Court,” Dr. Joshi said.
“I will continue to probe the matter and expose the government wherever irregularities are found without coming under any pressure or fear for, it is the right of every citizen to know how the public money is being used.”
Alleging that the UPA government at the Centre was the most corrupt since Independence, Dr. Joshi said the BJP would continue to apprise the people of its “misdeeds”.
Foreign policy
On foreign policy, Dr. Joshi said: “We must understand that the United States sometimes browbeats Pakistan but it will never leave it. Moreover, China has already said that an attack on Pakistan will be considered as an attack on China. So, we must draft our foreign policy and defence policy in view of these facts.”
Accusing the Congress-led UPA government of discrimination against the BJP-ruled States, Dr. Joshi said: “It has damaged the federal structure of the country by meting out step-motherly treatment to the States not ruled by the Congress“.
He alleged that the Centre lowered the quota of foodgrains for Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh.
Surplus power
Gujarat had surplus power but the UPA government was not permitting it to sell the additional electricity to other States, Dr. Joshi alleged.