BJP leader Sushma Swaraj on Friday declined to be drawn into a debate on reports that the Justice Shivraj Patil committee report had blamed the NDA government for deviating from policy on spectrum allocation, saying the report should first be made public.
Asked at a press conference here about Union Communications Minister Kapil Sibal's remark in Delhi blaming the NDA government based on excerpts from the Patil committee report, Ms. Swaraj initially said she did not agree with Mr. Sibal and what he said was untrue. “It was [former Minister] Mr. Raja who violated the policy.”
Later, when it was pointed out that Mr. Sibal was quoting the Patil report, Ms. Swaraj said: “Only if he makes the report public, can there be a discussion. Let the full report be available in public domain.”
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Ms. Swaraj said the BJP stood by its demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the issues arising out of the 2G spectrum allocation controversy, but declined to spell out whether the party's MPs would stall Parliament during the budget session. “Our parliamentary strategy will be formulated on the eve of the session in consultation with our NDA partners.”
Ms. Swaraj said larger issues of governance were involved in the matter, such as the role of corporate lobbying in decision-making, and these could be addressed only by a JPC.