Baalu, Gupta issue notice of privilege against Chacko

DMK Parliamentary party leader T.R. Baalu and CPI Lok Sabha MP Gurudas Dasgupta have issued separate notices of breach of parliamentary privilege against Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) Chairman and Congress Lok Sabha member from Kerala, P.C. Chacko, vis-à-vis leak of contents of the draft JPC report on the 2G Spectrum allocation issue.

Both the MPs, who are members of the JPC, sought Speaker Meira Kumar to order an appropriate enquiry to find out how the contents of the report, that exonerated Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, were leaked to the media.

Talking to

The Hindu , Mr. Baalu said in his letter dated April 21 to Ms. Kumar, Mr. Chacko had held the office of the Chairman of JPC and was himself responsible for the draft report finding its way to the media. “Mr. Chacko has violated the privileges of the members of the JPC,” he added.

The JPC report is said to have blamed former Communications Minister and DMK Lok Sabha member A. Raja of “misguiding” the PM about the 2G Spectrum allocation.

Besides Mr. Baalu, DMK Rajya Sabha MP Tiruchi Siva too is a member of JPC.

Meanwhile, Mr. Gurudas Dasgupta told this correspondent that in his letter to Ms. Kumar, he (Mr. Gupta) had pointed out that Mr. Chacko, by making the draft report of JPC available to the media, had violated the established norms of functioning of the parliamentary committees.

“Draft report is no report, and it has no legal validity. Its contents have been deliberately made public so as to exonerate the PM and the Finance Minister and make the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General appear as untenable. It is a political gain done with the purpose of taking the wind out of the sails of those who are indicting the PM for his inaction,” he said.

The CPI leader, who is also a veteran trade unionist, added that this was the first time in the parliamentary history that such a draft report had been leaked.

The JPC is expected to meet on April 25 to finalise its report and it is likely to be tabled in the parliament before the end of budget session next month. Informed sources said the members of the CPI, BJP and DMK are likely to give dissent notes to the final report.