Congress, BJP clash in JPC probing 2G scam
June 19th, 2012 - 5:45 pm ICT by IANS
New Delhi, June 19 (IANS) The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), probing the 2G spectrum scam, saw heated exchanges between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members over calling former telecom minister A. Raja and Attorney-General G.E. Vahanvati among others as witnesses.
BJP members wanted Raja, Vahanvati, Dayanidhi Maran and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s principal secretary Pulok Chatterjee to be called as witnesses, which the Congress members opposed.
Sources said the Congress members in the JPC countered the BJP’s move by saying if the opposition went on picking witnesses like this, the panel would have to go back to the NDA rule in 1998 and call Brajesh Mishra, then principal secretary to former prime minister A.B. Vajpayee, and the then attorney-general Soli Sorabjee besides the BJP leaders who were then telecom ministers.
The panel consists of 20 Lok Sabha and 10 Rajya Sabha members. It was formed on March 4, 2011, to probe the telecom policy of the governments since 1998 to 2009. The Congress has 10 members, the BJP has five and one is from the Janata Dal-United.
Some members were of the view that the panel should start writing the report, and only need to call Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), law and finance ministry officials as witnesses. But BJP leader Yashwant Sinha wanted some political persons also to be called as witnesses, said sources.
JPC chairman P.C. Chacko, a Congress MP, wanted to interrogate former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura, who was jailed along with Raja.
The sources said there were heated arguments between the Congress, the BJP and the Left members on the issue, after which Chacko was authorised to compile an exhaustive list of witnesses to be called before the JPC.
The members also debated when the panel should start writing the report.
- JPC examining NDA's 1999 telecom policy, summons Sorabjee (Lead) - May 18, 2011
- 'Maran rejected key telecom pricing proposal' - Jul 07, 2011
- JPC asked to quiz Chidambaram on 2G - Jul 28, 2011
- JPC asks CAG to explain how 2G loss is Rs.1.76 lakh crore - May 19, 2011
- UPA, opposition spat in PAC leaves 2G hearing in limbo (Lead) - Apr 15, 2011
- BJP MPs walk out of 2G JPC meet (Lead) - Sep 18, 2012
- NDA's 1999 telecom policy under JPC scanner - May 18, 2011
- 2G scam: JPC to quiz former telecom secretaries - Jul 06, 2011
- PAC vs JPC: 2G spectrum probe turf war intensifies - Mar 24, 2011
- JPC digging into spectrum allocation during NDA rule - Jul 08, 2011
- BJP mulls quitting JPC on 2G, says chairman 'dictatorial' (Third Lead) - Sep 18, 2012
- JPC on 2G scam to meet on March 24 - Mar 10, 2011
- JPC probing 2G scam gets time till May 2012 - Sep 06, 2011
- JPC meets CBI officials, to call Maran on 2G spectrum (Lead) - Jun 07, 2011
- PAC calls Nair, Chandrasekhar for 2G probe questioning - Apr 07, 2011
Tags: bharatiya janata party, bjp leaders, central bureau of investigation, chacko, chatterjee, congress members, dayanidhi maran, finance ministry officials, former prime minister, Lok Sabha, manmohan singh, parliamentary committee, political persons, prime minister manmohan, prime minister manmohan singh, principal secretary, rajya sabha, siddharth, telecom policy, vajpayee