Parliament logjam: Govt options not closed, say Cong sources

For the record, however, the party maintained that it does not not favour setting up of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) into the 2G spectrum scam."Till this hour, the opinion of Congress is that JPC is not required into the matter," party spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed told reporters at the AICC briefing adding "it was an inappropriate demand of the Opposition".

Ahmed, however, refused to give a direct reply to  a specific query on whether Congress' stand against JPC is the final decision of the party.A senior AICC leader also made similar remarks when asked whether JPC chapter is closed for Congress now.

"Till today, our stand is same. JPC is not required. And why the Opposition is running away from discussions," he said.

But party sources said that there were many options on breaking the logjam that includes conceding to the Opposition demand on JPC if it came to the crunch.
They ruled out sine die adjourment of the winter session lest it gave a wrong image about the government.

Some Congress leaders including  ministers, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the government might have to accept JPC sooner or later if the Opposition does not relent as it is primarily the responsibility of the ruling party to run Parliament.

In a meeting with Parliamentary Affairs Minister P K Bansal yesterday, a group of Congress MPs had also wondered what was the harm in having a JPC into the matter.
The party spokesperson, however, adopted a tough posture against the opposition parties for their insistence on JPC saying they are paralaysing Parliament's functioning with their "rigidity" on the issue saying it is not a good thing.

"People of the country have given the mandate to run the Government and Parliament to the UPA. If the Opposition finds lacunaes in the policies and actions of the government, they have the right to express their views and raise issues. But they do not have the mandateto force the government to do what they want. People have not given mandate to the opposition for it," Ahmed said.

On the deadlock in Parliament over the JPC demand, Ahmed said, "Government's stand is the party's stand. The government has made it clear that they do not find JPC necessary into the issue, when PAC has already begun looking into the matter. The Opposition should understand this."