PAC divided on 2G report, Joshi walks out (Lead)
April 28th, 2011 - 6:55 pm ICT by IANS
New Delhi, April 28 (IANS) Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) was Thursday split down the middle with panel chief Murli Manohar Joshi walking out in anger as the ruling combine rejected the draft report on the 2G spectrum case and the opposition vociferously backed it.
During the meeting at the Parliament House complex here, Congress and DMK members, supported by the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party, moved a resolution that the draft report should be put to vote.
The ruling alliance members gave 11 votes in writing, exactly half of the 22-member panel.
At this, Joshi, who is a leader of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), got angry, abruptly adjourned the meeting and walked out. Joshi had support from members of the Shiv Sena, Janata Dal-United and the Biju Janata Dal.
Congress member Naveen Jindal said the chairman had not adjourned the meeting. The remaining 11 members then appointed Saifuddin Soz as the acting chairman to preside over the meeting.
Soz, in his capacity as the acting chairman, got a resolution passed rejecting the
report, Jindal said.
Soz and the rest of the members then submitted the resolution rejecting the report and the written votes of 11 members to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar.
The BJP said that Joshi in his capacity as the chairman of the panel could still finalise the report and submit the report.
The draft 270-page report, which was circulated among members Wednesday, has criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for giving an “indirect green signal” to former IT and communications minister A. Raja to execute his “unfair and dubious designs” in selling scarce radio waves at throwaway prices.
The report does not hold Manmohan Singh directly responsible for the alleged losses the 2008 sale of telecom licences caused to the nation. However, the prime minister does face criticism in the report.
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- Joshi walks out of PAC meet - Apr 28, 2011
- Fractured PAC meets to finalise 2G report - Apr 28, 2011
- BJP activists baton charged in Lucknow - Apr 29, 2011
- BJP challenges PM over draft PAC report contents (Lead) - Apr 29, 2011
- PAC's UPA members accuse Joshi of hidden agenda - Apr 27, 2011
- Congress, DMK demands PAC chairman Joshi's resignation - Apr 27, 2011
- PAC has become a joke, says BJP - Apr 29, 2011
- Congress declines comment on speaker's rejection of PAC report - Jun 14, 2011
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