JPC on 2G draft triggers political row

The draft report on 2G scam prepared by the Joint Parliamentary Committee triggered a political storm on Friday with the opposition parties accusing panel chief P C Chacko of trying to save the government.

However, former minister A Raja claimed that all decisions were taken in consultation with Prime Minister Manmoahn Singh.

Gunning for the UPA government, the opposition parties threatened to raise the issue in the budget session of Parliament which will resume on April 22. Chacko defended the report saying that it was based on facts.  

The draft report, which gave a clean chit to both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram, has blamed Raja for misleading Singh while allotting spectrum in 2008.

Defending the report, Chacko told reporters that “We have to go in a chronological order...it is not that we are targeting one person or period”.  

The JPC members should look at the draft on the basis of merit and not with a “political mind”, he said while responding to opposition attack, adding that “the anger was anticipated.”

Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal, however, said the report is not yet finalised and requested the media and the opposition to refrain from speculation.

The BJP dubbed the draft JPC report on 2G spectrum scam as a “cover-up” attempt to “save” Congress leaders, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and vowed to raise it in Parliament next week.

BJP president Rajnath Singh said that his party refused to believe that the prime minister was not involved in the process of allocating the 2G spectrum in 2008 and accused the Congress of using the JPC to “subvert” the truth.

 Left parties too, strongly criticised the “deliberate leak” of the draft report of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the 2G scam, saying it amounted to breach of parliamentary privilege and sought a probe into it.