JPC: Cong under allies’ pressure
The crisis managers in the Congress are expected to call a meeting of the UPA partners on Wednesday to take a final view on the demand of constituting a joint parliamentary committee into the 2G spectrum allocation which has virtually paralysed Parliament from November 10.
The Congress is under pressure from its allies, especially the Trinamul Congress and the DMK to concede the demand for a JPC. This is because these two parties are fearing that corruption would be an issue in the forthcoming Assembly elections in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.
But the NCP’s Sharad Pawar said, “The UPA is united and there is no rethink on the stand against the JPC.” He also said that there will be “no sine die adjournment of Parliament.”
“As of now there is no JPC” was the refrain of parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Kumar Bansal when asked about the allies’ pressure on the government to concede to the Opposition’s demand for JPC.
“We are under no pressure from anyone. But then we keep on discussing things. It is a dynamic process. Meetings do take place from time to time,” said Mr Bansal, who has made a strong pitch against the JPC.
After vehemently opposing the JPC demand, the crisis managers are appearing to be looking for options and thus want to bring the allies on board. This has become clear after behind the scene developments in the Congress.
A meeting of UPA allies scheduled on Monday night on the JPC demand, was postponed at the last moment. The meeting was to have been chaired by leader of the Lok Sabha and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee. It will be now expected to be held on Wednesday, sources said.
It had to be postponed as a number of leaders of the allies were not in Delhi as they could not get information in time.
Trinamul Congress leader Mamata Banerjee had deputed senior party leader Dinesh Trivedi will represent the Trinamul Congress at the meeting called by Mr Mukherjee. However, the party learnt of its cancellation barely an hour before it was to commence.
A key Congress ally with its 19 MPs, the Trinamul Congress has already said that it’s fine with a JPC if it helps break the continuing Parliament log-jam. This, of course, puts the government in a bind as it has been resisting the setting up of a JPC ever since the Opposition raised the demand soon after Parliament’s Winter Session commenced.
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