The public accounts committee’s draft report, which was rejected by the ruling coalition, was submitted by PAC chairman Murli Manohar Joshi to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar on Saturday.
Dr Joshi, whose term as the chairman of the current PAC ended Saturday, asserted that the report needs to be “adopted and tabled in Parliament”. The BJP intends to make the report its campaign plank against corruption.
Even though Dr Joshi declared that the “Speaker’s view will be final”, the BJP indicated that if the report was “rejected then the party would lodge a strong protest”. The political battle between the Congress and the BJP is likely to intensify with PAC members from the ruling coalition planning to challenge Dr Joshi’s renomination as chairman. The new committee is likely to be formed by Monday. Sources disclosed that the saffron camp has also indicated that if the ruling coalition challenged Dr Joshi’s renomination, it would “withdraw all its members from other parliamentary committees”.
Speaking about the report, Dr Joshi maintained that the Speaker’s “view will be final”. The report was rejected as a majority (11 of 21 members) opposed it. The Congress had criticised the report as “one-sided with a malafide intention to destabilise the government”.