Rein in PAC chief, Congress tells BJP
Wondering whether there was any need to go in for Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the alleged 2G spectrum allocation scam, the Congress on Monday suggested that in the backdrop of the recent jurisdictional controversy between two parliamentary panels on the same issue the BJP should “rein in” its leader Murli Manohar Joshi, who heads the PAC.
If the saffron party failed to do the same, AICC spokesperson Manish Tewari said, “It will conclusively prove our contention that the BJP’s obstinacy to JPC was only to score some brownie points.” But before responding to queries about “a turf war” between the JPC and the PAC, Mr Tewari put a caveat saying that he was “not sure if it would be appropriate for him to comment, as he is a member of the JPC.”
Amid concerns expressed by JPC chairperson P.C. Chacko about a “parallel probe” by the PAC headed by Mr Joshi into the matter, Mr Tewari said, “If they (BJP) believe in the efficacy of the JPC, they need to rein in their member who is the chairperson of PAC.”
Further hitting at the main Opposition party, Mr Tewari said, “This is true that when the BJP demanded the JPC (on 2G spectrum scam), it said that the PAC does not have powers to deal with policy issues. But the way the area of work of the PAC has expanded, the BJP should rethink if the JPC was needed or the demand was made only to score brownie points.”
He said the entire Winter Session of Parliament was whitewashed because of the Opposition’s strident demand for the JPC.
The JPC is looking into irregularities in implementation of government policies from 1998 to 2009 in the allocation and pricing of telecom licences and spectrum.
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