PAC chief ignores BJP; fast-tracks 2G probe

Despite the BJP-led opposition’s steadfast refusal of a public accounts committee (PAC) probe into the 2G spectrum scam, the committee has decided to fast-track the ongoing inquiry into the matter.

The PAC, headed by senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi, has virtually rejected the party’s entreaties to go slow.

Enthused by prime minister (PM) Manmohan Singh’s offer to appear before the PAC, Joshi has fixed the next meeting of the 25-member committee on December 27. He has already sent notices to members on the date, sources said.

The PAC may also take into account the offer made by the PM to appear before the committee to come clean. Singh  sent a letter expressing his willingness to make good his promise at the AICC plenary session on Monday, sources said.

While the Congress had  called the PM’s offer a political masterstroke, the BJP and the Left had rejected it outright.
A fortnight ago, Joshi had come under attack from NDA leaders over the PAC probe into the 2G scam. NDA convener and JD(U) president Sharad Yadav had questioned the BJP’s credentials in continuing the fight for the constitution of a joint parliamentary committee. He had wondered how Joshi could hold regular meetings of the PAC when the party was demanding a JPC.

According to sources, senior party leaders told Joshi to take up other issues of public importance and go slow on the 2G probe. However, this was resented by the Congress and parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, who maintained that this was interference in the independent functioning of Parliament and tantamount to breach of privilege.

Sources close to Joshi asserted that he was strictly following parliamentary practices and doing what the PAC should do. He had told DNA that “the PAC had started probing the 2G scam much before the opposition parties raised the JPC demand. So, the committee cannot be expected to abandon its course.”

The PAC has summoned the comptroller & auditor-general Vinod Rai to appear and explain how he arrived at a figure of Rs1.76 lakh crore as loss due to the 2G spectrum allocation scam, sources said. The PAC’s prime task is to scrutinise the CAG report and then summon witnesses. Joshi is keen to complete the task before his current term comes to an end in April 2011.