After in-principle agreeing to concede to the demands for a JPC probe into the alleged 2G spectrum scam, the government on Wednesday made a fresh bid to break the logjam in Parliament.
In the process, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee met Leaders of Opposition in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha Sushma Swaraj and Arun jaitley respectively. But the Opposition leaders insisted that JPC should be announced on February 22 to enable the Houses of Parliament to function normally.
“We requested that the announcement for formation of JPC should be made on (February) 22nd itself so that Parliament may resume functioning from that very day,” Ms Swaraj said after the meeting.
Ms Swaraj told reporters that BJP will not obstruct President Pratibha Patil’s address to the joint sitting of Parliament on February 21. “But if the JPC probe that we have been demanding is not announced by the next day, then the proceedings will be obstructed,” she added.
Besides Mr Mukherjee, from the government side home minister P. Chidambaram, parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Kumar Bansal and health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad were also present during the meeting.
“We reiterated our demand for a JPC... We are hopeful that the government will accept our demand and the impasse will be resolved,” Ms Swaraj wrote on Twitter. She, however, maintained that there “appears to be some softening of stand on the part of the government”.
Incidentally, the meeting took place close on the heels of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stating in an interaction with editors that he was not afraid of appearing before a JPC.
“Full efforts are being undertaken to see that some way will be found (to ensure that Parliament functions). I hope it will happen,” the Prime Minister had said.
Meanwhile, sources in the BJP said, “Our leaders insisted that a motion be moved in the Lok Sabha on February 22 so that there is no delay and Parliament functioning is not disrupted.”