Joshi may resubmit 'rejected' PAC report

“Joshi may re-circulate the report and seek the opinion in the newly constituted PAC. The anti-Congress and pro-Congress factions are almost evenly divided.  Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party members may again hold the key,” a PAC member told Deccan Herald requesting anonymity.

He said if the BSP and the SP members go against the government, Joshi could turn the tables on the Congress and its UPA allies.  The coming elections in Uttar Pradesh could prompt the BSP and SP to intensity anti-UPA campaign and supporting the report will serve the purpose, the member indicated.

The draft report of the PAC , rejected by the Congress and other UPA members, was sent to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar who had sent it back to Joshi. The term of the previous PAC expired on April 30, but Joshi was re-elected chairman of the new PAC in May.

The fate of the report has since been a matter of speculation with the Speaker saying she has written to the PAC chief. She, however, did not disclose the content of the letter.  Jayanthi Natarajan's resignation from the PAC following her ministerial elevation could worry the Congress in the panel where numbers are stacked too fine for its comfort.

Last time, the report would have been approved by a majority of the members and placed before Parliament, but for the help extended to the Congress by BSP and SP members.  The ruling camp and the anti-UPA section of the 21-member PAC have nine members each. It leaves two members with the BSP and one with the SP.