After resisting the Opposition demand for over three months, the government has finally agreed to constitute a Joint Parliamentary Committee to probe the 2G spectrum allocation issue, well-placed sources told The Hindu .
The decision, which was clinched following a meeting here on Wednesday between Bharatiya Janata Party leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley and the Group of Ministers led by Pranab Mukherjee, comes just in time for the budget session of Parliament, which begins on February 21.
The Opposition disrupted the entire winter session last year over the JPC issue and threatened to do the same again if its demand was not met.
With the Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the spectrum allocation now in high gear — on Wednesday, the agency questioned leading industrialist Anil Ambani on his role in the matter — a softening of the Congress and government stand was evident this past week.
According to the in-principle agreement worked out, Prime Minister Singh will make a formal announcement at the start of the session along the lines of the two-paragraph notice issued by P.V. Narasimha Rao in 1992 which led to the establishment of a JPC on the securities scam.
The opening day of the session is reserved for the customary President's address to the joint session of Parliament and later both Houses meet for a brief while when a copy the speech is tabled.
Regular proceedings of both Houses would start on February 22 and it is understood that the government would move its motion on the matter then. What has not been fully settled yet is the wording of the resolution and whether the decision to set up a JPC would precede a debate, which the Congress-led UPA has been insisting should be the procedure.
With a view to breaking the deadlock on the issue over the past few weeks, the Congress, under Leader of the House in the Lok Sabha Pranab Mukherjee, had opened channels of communication with leaders of the Opposition.
The Congress also roped in senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad to talk to leaders in the Left parties who also spoke to the other five — the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Biju Janata Dal, the Janata Dal (Secular), the Rashtriya Lok Dal, and the Telugu Desam Party. These nine parties have been working in close coordination in Parliament.
Last week, during two rounds of formal talks with leaders of parties in Parliament, the government gave ample indications of its intention which came out clearly with Mr. Mukherjee stating that no price was big enough to pay for normality to be restored in Parliament.
