Thaindian News

Both the government and the opposition are sticking to their respective stands on the JPC demand, not because of any principles, but for political reasons.

The government has pointed out that it has already started probes by different agencies into various aspects of the 2G spectrum allocation issue. What is more, the Supreme Court is monitoring probes by various agencies into the scam, and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), has been asked to submit its first report in the matter in the apex court by February 10.

The Public Accounts Committee, headed by a senior BJP leader, is going full steam ahead with its probe into the 2G spectrum allocation issue. It has issued advertisements inviting suggestions from the general public on the issues before it. CAG Vinod Rai appeared before the PAC on December 27, 2010 to put forth his viewpoint on the loss suffered by the national exchequer. The CAG report had put the loss at Rs. 1.76 lakh crore. But even this has failed to mollify the opposition, especially the BJP.

The reasons for the opposition obduracy on the JPC demand are not difficult to fathom. The 2G spectrum allocation scam and the slew of corruption cases, which have surfaced recently, have come as a god-send for the opposition searching for issues to puncture the claims of the Congress-led UPA government on working for the aam admi (common man), unprecedented economic growth and achievements on the foreign policy front.

The BJP, which has been on a downhill slide since 2004, would not let go of the opportunity at any cost. The Left parties, facing an uphill battle in the 2011 Assembly elections in West Bengal and Kerala, would also not like to let slip an opportunity to embarrass the Congress and the coalition which it heads at the Centre.

It is in the interest of both the BJP and the CPI (M)-led Left parties not to take the heat off the government on the corruption issue. The BJP objective is to create a situation like the one, which developed in 1986-87 during the anti-Bofors gun deal deadlock in Parliament.

As a result of the bad name brought to the government by the opposition agitation, the Rajiv Gandhi led Congress had to bite the dust in the 1989 Lok Sabha elections, a far cry from the party winning nearly fourth-fifths of the total Lok Sabha seats in the 1984 elections, which followed Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination.

While the BJP would like to repeat the Bofors phenomenon once again, the Left parties would like nothing better than to create a situation, which would allow them to seize victory from the jaws of likely defeat in the Assembly elections in West Bengal. For the first time in more than three decades, the CPI (M)-led Left Front is staring at defeat at the hands of the Trinamool Congress-Congress combine in the state.

Sensing the difficulties being faced by the Congress, the allies are become more assertive.