Eleven Opposition parties on Tuesday urged President Pratibha Patil to intervene and make the United Progressive Alliance government accept their demand for a joint parliamentary committee probe into the 2G spectrum allocation scam and break the parliamentary deadlock.
A delegation of MPs, including leaders from four Left parties, the Telugu Desam Party, the Janata Dal (Secular), the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Asom Gana Parishad, the Biju Janata Dal, the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Rashtriya Lok Dal marched to the Rashtrapati Bhawan to meet Ms. Patil in the afternoon and submitted a memorandum signed by 78 of them.
The MPs said it was unfortunate that Parliament could not transact any business in the current winter session and that the UPA government was responsible for the impasse by its “obdurate refusal” to appoint a JPC. “This scam is the single largest corruption scandal in independent India, estimated by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to have led to a loss of over Rs. 1,76 lakh crore to the exchequer.”
Briefing journalists, CPI(M) Rajya Sabha leader Sitaram Yechury said the MPs pointed out to the President that JPCs were formed to probe corruption scams of smaller dimensions. Besides identifying and nailing the guilty, it was necessary to identify how the system could be so manipulated to result in such a massive scam.
Besides suggesting adequate safeguards against recurrence of such massive scams that drained huge resources of the country, a JPC could also recommend laws to prevent malpractices of such dimensions.
Mr. Yechury said the MPs also apprised the President that the estimated revenue loss could fund either of the two social welfare measure — Food Security or Right to Education.
“We expressed our deep anguish and concern at the exponentially growing cases of corruption in the country. We urge upon you to exercise your influence over your government to accept this perfectly legitimate demand for the constitution of a joint parliamentary committee to probe into this 2G spectrum scam and consequently resolve the current impasse to allow Parliament to continue with its work,” the memorandum said.
