After giving positive signals about the constitution of a joint parliamentary committee to probe the 2G spectrum allocation scam any time in the next five days, crisis managers in the UPA are working on the nitty-gritty of a panel, including its chairman and numbers.

The government on Friday appeared to rule out widening the ambit of a JPC, if one is constituted, to cover other scandals. Parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Kumar Bansal hinted at this at a press conference ahead of the three-month-long Budget Session beginning Monday. A decision on setting up a JPC would be taken by Wednesday, he said. Mr Bansal said discussions with the Opposition on the issue of a JPC are “moving forward” and expressed hope that the Budget Session would “run smoothly”.
“It is a premature question at the moment. We are still in the process of discussing with other political parties... A decision will be taken by Wednesday,” Mr Bansal said when asked whether the government has decided to go in for a JPC.
While the Left and BJP suggest that a JPC should have 30 members, UPA insiders feel that political parties with less than 10 members in the Lok Sabha would find it difficult to figure in a JPC. But no final decision has taken in this regard.
At least 26 parties have less then 10 members in the Lower House. They include AIADMK (nine), NCP (nine), TDP (six), RLD (five), CPI (four), RJD (four), SAD (four), Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (three), Janata Dal-S (three), AIFB (two), JMM (two), Muslim League Kerala State Committee (two), RSP (two) and TRS (two).
The others are one-member parties like the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, AIUDF, AGP, Bahujan Vikas Aghadi, Bodoland Peoples Front, Haryana Janhit Congress (BL), JVM (Prajatantrik), Kerala Congress (M), MDMK, Nagaland Peoples Front, Sikkim Democratic Front, Swabhimani Paksha and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi.
The Congress (207) will have the most members in a JPC. After that, the BJP (116), SP (22), BSP (21), Janata Dal-U (20), Trinamul Congress (19), DMK (18), CPI-M (16), BJD (14) and Shiv Sena (11) will get representation as per their strength in the two Houses of Parliament.
From the government, either telecom minister Kapil Sibal or parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Kumar Bansal could move a motion in the Lok Sabha. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh could make a brief statement in the House when a motion for a JPC is taken up. The late PM P.V. Narasimha Rao had made a statement when a JPC into the Harshad Mehta affair was set up in the early Nineties.
A one-line motion could be on the lines of instituting a JPC probe to go into the alleged irregularities in the allocation of 2G spectrum.
Well-placed sources indicated that setting up a JPC is a forgone conclusion, saying the logjam in Parliament is not in the interest of the country, its development and its message to the world.
The BJP has been talking of including the Commonwealth Games scandal and the Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society in the ambit of a JPC. The demand for widening the ambit is unlikely to be conceded as the rules of parliamentary procedure do not allow such a clubbing of various issues under an umbrella resolution.
Mr Bansal sought to reject the demand for a combined JPC into the 2G scam, Commonwealth Games scandal and Adarsh scam. He said that according to the rules of procedure of Parliament, a definite issue needed to be mentioned in the motion and there cannot be a probe on a general issue like corruption.
To a query on the possibility of the Prime Minister being called by the JPC to appear before it, Mr Bansal said that in such an eventuality Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar will have to decide whether or not to allow it. “The decision of the Speaker will be final.”
Mr Bansal said the Left parties could find representation in the JPC as the four parties have said in writing to the government that they be treated as a group.
Government sources said the JPC could be a 30-member affair with 20 members from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha. If the committee is set up with 21 members, then 14 will be from the Lower House and seven from the Upper House.