With the functioning of Parliament remaining hit for the 10th successive working day, the government on Thursday literally threw up its hands, stating it did not know how to end the deadlock.
With the Opposition remaining steadfast in its demand that a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) be formed to probe the 2G spectrum allocation and the government rejecting it, the stalemate continues.
Both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha were adjourned on Thursday, first till noon and on reassembly, for the day, as noisy scenes marked the proceedings.
The government's inability to find a way out of the stand-off came when Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told journalists, “I have not been able to find a solution. I do not know how to resolve this impasse. We are trying. Let us see.”
In the last two weeks, Mr. Mukherjee held two rounds of meetings with Opposition leaders to find a meeting ground.
While not yielding to the Opposition demand, the government suggested that the Public Accounts Committee, which will scrutinise the Comptroller and Auditor-General's report on 2G, could be assisted by multi-disciplinary agencies such as the CBI, the Income-Tax Department and the Enforcement Directorate. This offer was cast off by the Opposition immediately.
Reports of an early adjournment of Parliament ahead of it scheduled date was denied by the government.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal ruled out an early end to the winter session, asserting that the government favoured functioning of both the Houses till December 13 as planned.
On her part, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar sought an end to the impasse. She said the House should be allowed to function and discuss issues. “It is my earnest appeal to end the impasse and allow the Houses to function and discuss the issues in Parliament,” she said when asked about the possibility of resolving the deadlock.
In a related move, Communist Party of India (Marxist) Rajya Sabha leader Sitaram Yechury met Mr. Mukherjee on Thursday and sought to reason out with the Minister on the Opposition demand.
Keywords: Parliament deadlock, 2G spectrum, JPC demand
It is surprising till now Dr Singh has not faced the parliament nor met other parties to find a solution for this. We do not require an economist to run India but a bold honest understanding PM. Dr Singh telling I am honest honest but presiding over so many scams with out doing anything speaks bad about his reputation. It is high time he quits to save India.
Its as simple as it can be, Pranabda. If government has nothing to hide then why is it shying away from JPC. We all know how independent the agencies like CBI are. PAC has a limited mandate and it can only discuss reports, so the JPC is only logical choice for fair probe.
It is always the habit of Congress party to be supreme even after a great scam but never let loose to allow JPC even after parliament impasse for 10 days. Every one understands that genuine tax payers money is being wasted and looted by the alliance party. JPC is a must to prevent a repeat of these scams to cleanse the polluted system.
By not giving permission to set up a JPC doesn't the Congress realise that they are painting a wrong picture in the mind of a common man who has lost faith in any of party. And by delaying they trying to make us realise that we should not except a transperent form of government.
Given the sullied reputation of all parties involved, the ruling coalition and the opposition, their motivation is hardly above board. While COngress wants to whitewash the scam, the opposition with its history wants grandstanding. The best solution is to appoint a three-person panel of Supreme Court judges who are not among the twenty percent corrupt ones that Mr. Shanti Bhushan is fighting against.
Pranav Sir, deduct the salary for the days, all the MPs who absent themselves, or do not attend the Parliament meetings. Please take some stringent action, after all they are being paid and recently you have increased their salaries. All these MPs should not forget that they got elected by the people of India to represent them and their problems in the parliament. Let them not over-estimate or become over-confident of themselves and mis-use their position and power. It appears that they are all having their personal committments outside the parliament, and hence this whole prolonged drama.
It is unclear why the Congress is so adamant in refusing to agree on a JPC probe. Do they think that only the opposition is demanding this? Let the government take a referendum on the issue to know what the public feel about this. The media should also persist with this issue until the government relents on this. The topic should remain on the headlines continuously.
For any reasonable observer, setting up a JPC is a fair way out of this impasse. Aren't there 174,000,000,000,000 reasons to have one? There couldn't be anything more embarrassing for a govt than what the Supreme Court has already said. Given the insensitivity of the current govt, it could easily ignore what emerges from a JPC proceeding (as it does to remarks made by the Supreme Court),
Congress at least has to studay a lesson that the alliance government has to avoid as much as possible the state-level parties while formation. It's obvious that they will spoil the nation as their ambition while coming up to support the goverment is nothing but to loot as and when their time comes up. Respected Indira Gandhi should be remembered in this context that she never gave an opportunity to unwanted elements to manipulate and take an upper hand when she was the prime minister.
Is PM above law? He role is visible in 2G scam and he can and should be summoned by the JPC when setup. Why is he hiding. CBI's progress has shown that they under influence of PMO who are not interested in prosecuting the culprits. Similar is the case with CWG. Both Kalmadi and Shiela Dixit have been going scott free while small frys are being interrogated.
It is not rocket science. Everyone is asking for a JPC probe into the 2g scam. So go ahead and appoint one and the impasse is over. The reason you are denying a JPC is because there is a great deal of muck to hide and hence this impasse. Shame on you all politicians for wasting honest tax payers money in such tamasha.
Comparing Tehelka and these three huge scams is not logical,though convenient for the Congress party. Besides, always saying that BJP did this, BJP did that, to justify the wrongs of the Congress and the UPA, has become the habit of the Congress party,instead pf providing good and CLEAN Governance. JPC probe is demanded by all the opposition and even, the allies DMK and Trinamool Congress. JPC is a must to prevent a repeat of these scams,to improve the System. The Congress party is imitating its notorious former PM,Indira Gandhi,as one fears its Dictatorship.
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