Apparently seeking to drive a wedge in the opposition camp, the government today said even if a JPC probe was ordered into the 2G spectrum allocation, only seven of the 37 parties could find a place in the committee.

"Parliament is represented by 37 political parties, but the JPC would be restricted only to seven parties. Would it be a representative body," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal told reporters.

Noting that the Supreme Court was seized of the matter and was pro-actively going into the issue, he said investigation, prosecution and adjudication cannot be done by a Parliamentary panel.

The proper forum for discussion on any issue would be Parliament, he said.

Bansal's comments came close on the heels of NDA declaring that there was no going back on the issue of JPC demand as it was a multi-dimensional scam, undermining democracy itself and wondering why the government was "scared" of such a probe.

Though the financial business of Parliament would be completed tomorrow with Rajya Sabha taking up the appropriation bills for Railways, sources said there was no immediate possibility of Parliament adjourning sine die as government was in no mood to rush through the pending bills.

Related report:

NDA not giving up on JPC demand

New Delhi, Dec 2 (PTI) As Parliament remained deadlocked for the 15th working day, NDA today declared that there was no going back on the issue of demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) into the 2G spectrum scam.

It, however, indicated that it has no plans to bring a no-confidence motion against the government on the issue.

"2G scam is a multi-dimensional scam, undermining democracy itself... Business houses talking of composition of the government... in view of this nature... for a thorough probe and to bring all guilty to book, nothing short of a JPC can do justice to the task," senior BJP leader L K Advani said.

Addressing a press conference along with leaders of opposition Sushma Swaraj (Lok Sabha) and Arun Jaitley (Rajya Sabha) as also leaders of Shiv Sena and Akali Dal, he said that the government has not been able to convince anyone in the opposition why a JPC was not needed.

Accusing the government of provoking it to bring a no-confidence motion when only year has passed since the Lok Sabha polls, he suggested that such a course of action was not planned, noting that "every MP wants to serve the full term".

Besides, he said, he was for a fixed term for legislatures in the country and have also met the Prime Minister and Leader of the Lok Sabha in this regard.

Alleging that the UPA government was "indifferent" to the problem of corruption, Advani claimed that even if the allegation was likely to reach "high levels of political office... the government was absolutely adamant".

"The Government cannot seriously expect the opposition to accept that the CBI and the CVC are the appropriate institutions which are capable of an honest investigation into the monumental 2G spectrum allocation scam", he said.