If logjam continued in Parliament for the third consecutive day on Thursday with the main Opposition BJP refusing to budge from its demand for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s resignation over the CAG report on coal block allocation, the party also asserted that it will “not compromise” on its demand of calling the PM and finance minister P. Chidambaram before the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC). The BJP had walked out from the JPC meeting on Wednesday alleging that the Congress members had used “foul words” against them and alleged that the ruling party members wanted former PM Atal Behari Vajpayee and former defence minister George Fernandes to be called before the panel. The JPC is looking into the alleged 2G spectrum allocation scam.
While the party indicated that it was ready to continue with the deadlock for the remaining period of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, it also maintained that it is awaiting JPC chairman P.C. Chacko’s decision on the names of witnesses to be included in the list, who will be then questioned by the parliamentary panel.
On speculation that the BJP was thinking of resigning from the JPC, senior BJP leader and panel member Yashwant Sinha said it was a “purest form of speculation”. Defending the walkout, Mr Sinha said Congress members behaved in a “brazen” manner, which showed that the government had a “gameplan” to scuttle the panel’s probe into the 2G spectrum scam.