The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday made it clear that a Supreme Court-monitored probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation would not deter it from continuing to demand a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) inquiry into the 2G spectrum allocation scandal, as the CBI would be able to look at only the criminal aspects of the scam, not its political dimensions.
While welcoming the court's order — which said it would monitor the CBI probe and that the gamut of issues in the allocation of spectrum since 2001 should be looked at — the BJP made it clear that the “other issues” for which it had demanded a JPC included inaction by the Prime Minister's Office for 11 months after the scam became public.
Party spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy emphasised that the BJP's demand was not restricted to the 2G spectrum issue, as the party had also demanded a JPC into the alleged corruption in the Commonwealth Games contracts and to the allotment of flats in Mumbai's Adarsh Society.
Mr. Rudy said the court order that the probe should cover the National Democratic Alliance period from 2001 would bring out the whole truth and prevent the Congress from making allegations of wrong-doing by the BJP-led government.
While party leaders did not indicate whether they would carry into the Budget session next year their strategy of stalling parliamentary proceedings, as they did through the winter session, the emerging view is that the party will try to get a sense of what the people are saying.
The series of public meetings planned by the BJP between now and January-end will be used by the leadership to get a feel of the mood on the ground. Having successfully isolated the United Progressive Alliance in Parliament throughout the winter session, the BJP will also see what strategy the other parties, including the Left, come up with. It would not like to be isolated if the other parties decide not to stall Parliament.
When veteran leader L.K. Advani was asked two days ago whether the BJP would carry on disrupting Parliament in the Budget session, he said: “We will decide our strategy then.”
Asked the same question, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley did not give an answer. Other senior leaders said that closer to the Budget session, it will be the party's core committee that will take a call.
