Murli Manohar Joshi supports demand for JPC on 2G scam

NEW DELHI - Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman Murli Manohar Joshi issued a statement on Thursday saying that he is not opposed to the party’s demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the 2G spectrum scam.

“As a member of BJP, I stand fully committed to demand for JPC to look into broader questions related to corruption facing the country today. Issues of corruption during UPA II are of great concern of people of India. The PAC will look into the matters of public spending based on the CAG Report,” he said in a statement assuring that his stand over the 2G spectrum allocation scam probe is in line with the BJP.

Joshi’s statement follows his meeting with BJP President Nitin Gadkari last night, where the party chief reportedly discussed ways to make certain that the leader falls into the party line, as several party leaders have so far expressed contradictory views on the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh’s offer to appear before the PAC in connection with the 2G scam.

Hours after Joshi went public with his stand on PAC, the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj tweeted: “Under the Lok Sabha rules, PAC cannot call a minister, much less the Prime Minister. Prime Minister’s offer therefore, has no meaning. The scope of PAC is totally different from that of JPC. While PAC deals with accounts, JPC deals with accountability and governance.”

Earlier on Monday, Dr. Singh wrote to Joshi saying that he is ready to appear before the panel in connection with the 2G-spectrum scam.

The Prime Minister made an unprecedented offer of appearing before the PAC at the Congress 83rd plenary meet on December 20, saying he has ‘nothing to hide’.

“I sincerely believe that like Caesar’s wife, the Prime Minister should be above suspicion and it is for this reason that I am prepared to appear before the PAC even though there is no precedent to that effect,” Dr. Singh had said.

Former Telecom Minister A Raja was forced to resign last month after a report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) faulted him for undervaluing spectrum to favour companies who were largely ineligible for 2G spectrum, and added that the government had probably lost Rs.1.76 lakh crore in estimated revenue. (ANI)