All-party meet on 2G fails to end deadlock

The opposition parties rejected the government proposal of multiple agencies probing the 2G scam; in unison they demanded for JPC

PTI | November 22, 2010



An all-party meeting called to end the deadlock in Parliament on 2G spectrum failed today as the Opposition stuck to its demand for JPC probe and rejected the government''s proposal for attaching multi-disciplinary probe teams with the PAC to go into CAG report.

After the hour-long meeting, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told the opposition parties that he would get back to them after consulting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Mukherjee had called the leaders of all parties to discuss ways to end the logjam over 2G probe because of which Parliament has remained paralysed ever since the Winter Session began on November 9 as the Opposition has been insisting on setting up of Joint Parliamentary Committee to go into the scam.

During the meeting, the government proposed that the teams of multiple agencies probing the 2G scam could be attached with the Public Accounts Committee, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said.

This was rejected by the opposition parties in unison as they stuck to their demand for JPC, she said.

"We said that we will not accept (the government proposal)," Swaraj said, a view echoed by representatives of other Opposition parties who attended the meeting.

"The deadlock continues. It was just another round of discussions," said Shiv Sena leader Manohar Joshi after the meeting.

"They (government) offered nothing new. We asked why the government was refusing to have JPC on 2G spectrum issue when such probes have been carried out on four earlier occasions," JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav said.

Questioning the government's refusal to set up JPC into 2G spectrum allocation, CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta referred to the Security Scam of 1991 and said Manmohan Singh, as Finance Minister then, had taken a lead in setting up JPC.

He accused Singh of "failing to discharge" his Constitutional duty and went on to demand JPC to look into "failure" of the Prime Minister.

Justifying his charge, Dasgupta said Singh, in his affidavit to the Supreme Court, had noted that he had received a complaint from him (Dasgupta) and it was passed on to A Raja, the then Telecom Minister.

"The Prime Minister can be accused of dereliction of duty. After receiving the complaint, the Prime Minister failed to restrain Raja (in allocation of 2G) because the Prime Minister is afraid of DMK and afraid of losing the government," Dasgupta said.

"Today, fingers are being raised at the Prime Minister in the Supreme Court. This is a very serious issue. PAC cannot look into the functioning of PMO and the government," the CPI leader argued.

On the opposition's rejection of PAC looking into 2G scam, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said the PAC can only look into audit related issues while the spectrum matter has gone beyond this aspect.

RLD leader Ajit Singh, who had earlier favoured a judicial inquiry, said all opposition parties are unanimous on JPC probe.

After the meeting, Mukherjee said if the opposition parties feel so, then "we can offer a multi-disciplinary investigation agency consisting of officers of various branches of different investigation agencies to the help to PAC...therefore it would be additional to the normal functioning of the PAC."

Swaraj and her counterpart in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley also raised the issue of involvement of corporate lobbyists in the 2-G Spectrum allocation case as revealed in some media reports.

"As the tapes have exposed, the corporate lobbyists decide who should be the minister and the allocation of portfolios. Then they decide what the policy should be and how to go about it," Jaitley said.

BJP insisted in the meeting that the audio tapes of conversations between a corporate lobbyist and "anchors, journalists and editors" shows that the ambit and ramifications of the 2-G Spectrum scam could be larger and so beyond the powers of a Public Accounts Committee and hence a JPC would be required.

"A JPC can summon ministers and former ministers and even the Prime Minister. Two former finance ministers have been summoned by earlier JPCs. The PAC does not have the powers to do so. It only deals with the CAG report," Swaraj said.

The JPC on Harshad Mehta scam had summoned then Finance Minister Manmohan Singh while the JPC on the Ketan Parekh Securities scam had summoned then Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha.

The only issue on which there were differences in the opposition camp during the all-party meeting was on the period which should be investigated by the JPC.

There was one view that JPC should investigate the telecom tenders issue from 1999 but AIADMK said it should be from 1994 onwards as the sector was privatised in that year.

RLD Chief Ajit Singh said when the opposition is united in its demand for a JPC, the government should at least clarify why it was not accepting it. The government reportedly did not reply to his query.

The Left parties, which appeared lukewarm during the November 15 all-party meeting on JPC demand, were very vocal today and strongly demanded that it be set up.

RJD and BSP stated during the meeting that they would support whatever opinion the majority of the parties had on the issue.

Comments

 

Other News

The Constitution cannot be altered: Justice Abhay Oka

Justice Abhay Oka, who retired from the Supreme Court in May 2025, has said that the Constitution of India cannot be altered. Explaining the landmark Kesavananda Bharati judgment (1973) on the basic structure of the Constitution, he said, “This is one judgment that has saved democracy in India.&rdq

How the flora and fauna evolved in the Indian subcontinent

Mammals of India  By A.J.T. Johnsingh and P.O. Nameer HarperCollins India in association with Bombay Natural History Society  

India`s renewable race is moving beyond megawatts

When Shell bought Sprng Energy in 2022, India`s renewable energy market appeared to offer precisely what global energy majors were seeking: scale, growth and a place in one of the world`s largest energy transitions. Four years later, Shell is selling the same business to Aditya Birla Group for an enterpris

Nepal Floods: India keeps close watch on the situation

India`s central government has been keeping a close watch on the situation arising out of the flash flood in Nepal on Wednesday. Union home minister Amit Shah spoke with the chief ministers of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, the two states that share the border with Nepal, regarding the disaster

UPI completes 10 years of digital payments revolution

The Unified Payments Interface (UPI), launched on August 25, 2016 by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) under the regulatory oversight of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has completed 10 years of transforming digital payments in India. UPI has emerged as the backbone of India’s digi

Here’s an I.D.E.A. for career growth and success

Success in today’s professional organisation is no longer solely determined by academic qualifications, technical expertise or years of experience. While these attributes do matter, organisations increasingly value individuals who demonstrate the right mindset and behavioural qualities. The ability

Upcoming Conferences



-->

Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter