Both govt., BJP refuse to blink first

PTI

New Delhi, 29 November 2010: In a bid to end Parliament impasse, the government on Sunday reached out to the BJP saying it was ready for a discussion on 2G spectrum issue and a Supreme Court-monitored CBI probe but rejected the demand for a JPC, which failed to cut ice with the main opposition party.

Leader of the House in the Lok Sabha and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday called up NDA working-chairperson L.K. Advani and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj to discuss the continuing deadlock in Parliament since November 10 over Opposition demand for a JPC probe.

Sources said Mr. Mukherjee told the two BJP leaders that government could not agree to a JPC probe as the earlier experiences have not been good. He recounted the Bofors and Harshad Mehta stock scams in which the JPC probes were held and maintained that they became political and the opposition turned them into election issues to garner votes.

Mr. Mukherjee suggested that instead of a JPC probe, a full-fledged debate on 2G spectrum allocation can be held in Parliament. This was rejected by the BJP leaders who said discussions have already been held in earlier sessions of Parliament on the scam.

The senior Congress leader also suggested that the Supreme Court can take over the supervision of the CBI probe into the 2G scam. But this prompted the two leaders to ask as to how the government could ensure this.

The BJP leaders conveyed to Mr. Mukherjee that they were firm on their demand for a JPC probe and would not give it up.

“Government is primarily and constitutionally accountable only to Parliament. The best and only option in this case is a JPC probe,” Deputy Leader of the BJP in the Rajya Sabha S.S. Ahluwalia said.

Meanwhile, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar was apparently keen to hold an all-party meeting on Monday to find a way out of the Parliament impasse.

But since Ms. Swaraj and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley will be away in Bhopal to attend a programme on Monday to mark five years of Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s tenure as Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, the meeting had to be postponed. It may now be held late in the evening on Monday or on Tuesday morning.

BJP sources said, Mr. Advani and Mr. Ahluwalia are likely to lead the opposition charge in forcing adjournment of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha respectively on Monday over the JPC probe demand.

Meanwhile, Congress spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed rejected suggestions that some of the UPA allies were also in favour of a JPC probe.

“The reply of the government is reply of the UPA. It is the reply of every party which is in the government. Government has already said that a JPC probe is not required in the matter and let PAC first examine the matter. Congress stand is also the same that the matter should be allowed to be looked into by the PAC,” Mr. Ahmed said.

Another senior Congress leader maintained that if the PAC feels that the matter needs further investigation then the argument can be taken further.

“It is better to face these disruptions in Parliament than be subjected to selective leaks and insinuation campaigns for two years by a JPC,” the leader said.

He also suggested that the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee should first go through the CAG report on 2G spectrum allocation and if it is not satisfied then other options can be explored.