Report In Limbo As Joshi Says No To Vote While UPA MPs Reject It
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: Aided by two MPs of Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party switching sides, Congress and DMK members of the Public Accounts Committee prevented the adoption of a draft report that is a scathing indictment of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the then finance minister P Chidambaram and the cabinet secretariat in the 2G telecom scam.
Split on political lines, the committee meeting on Thursday witnessed noisy interruptions and heated exchanges more befitting of zero hour point-scoring than the bipartisan proceedings of an important parliamentary panel. However, after more than three hours of heated drama and virtually a handto-hand combat over rules, the draft’s status remains in limbo, with the Opposition preventing a vote that would have junked the indictments.
The exchanges between the rivals were capped by UPA members electing Saifuddin Soz as the chairman in place of Murli Manohar Joshi after the latter did not allow a vote on the controversial report.
The fight will now continue outside the committee with the Opposition looking to ensure that the report is seen as that of the PAC and not as “Joshi’s” report that Congress has rubbished it as. There are indications that PAC chairman Joshi may present the report to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar after her return from Arunachal Pradesh on Friday.
The BJP members said that such a course of action would be perfectly in sync with rules which say that the chairman can submit a report directly to the Speaker when the House is not in session. They cited the precedent of former PAC head and Congress MP Buta Singh submitting the report on Coffingate in 2003. The Speaker, though, would be the final arbiter.
Congress scored a big success overnight when it managed to win over both SP and BSP with one member each in the 21-member committee: something that would have ensured the rejection of the draft in a vote.
Armed with the support of BSP and SP MPs which took their numbers to a decisive 11 in a 21-member committee, Congress representatives launched a frontal attack on panel chairman Joshi accusing him of outsourcing the writing of the draft report. With the draft report slamming the PM and his office, cabinet secretariat and home minister P Chidambaram in his previous role as finance minister, the seven Congress and two DMK MPs were determined to prevent Joshi from adopting the findings. They submitted a letter protesting Joshi’s haste and demanded a vote to keep the draft pending till the next committee over on May 1.
SP, BSP put war on hold to help Cong
When Mayawati confidant S C Mishra escorted party MP Baliram to the doorstep of the PAC meeting on Thursday morning, it was clear that the understanding had been struck at the top. The seasoned Samajwadi Reoti Raman Singh too took a stand in sync with Congress. The Uttar Pradesh outfits tilted the scales in the committee in favour of the government, in another instance of their bailing out UPA-2 in difficulty. Mayawati and Mulayam Singh Yadav’s “help on demand” stance towards Congress has baffled observers given its stark contrast to the cut-throat competition between them in state politics. While the strange relationship has spawned many theories, the commonality of the voluble duo from the heartland facing CBI inquiries is seen as the reason for their playing footsie with the enemy. TNN CHANGE OF TUNE The Congress has been sharply critical of PAC, but not so long ago, top leaders publicly supported it
MANMOHAN SINGH
I have nothing to hide from the public and as a proof of my bona fides, I intend to write to the chairman, PAC, that I shall be happy to appear before it if it chooses to ask me to do so Dec 21, 2010 (while addressing Congress plenary session. On Dec 27, he wrote to MM Joshi offering to appear before PAC)
The PAC is a joint parliamentary committee presided over by a very senior member of the opposition. I... am willing to appear before it
Feb 16, 2011 PRANAB MUKHERJEE
PAC is almost a permanent JPC… I will appeal to members of the opposition to ...accept the proposition that CAG report on 2G will be examined by the PAC
Nov 19, 2010
If they (opposition) say there is no investigative authority of the PAC (and) if PAC desires, we can give them the assistance of a multi-disciplinary investigative agency
Dec 25, 2010 2G SCAM REPORT Joshi to present draft report to speaker
New Delhi: Congress managers tracked the PAC proceedings on Thursday, while the presence of Home minister P Chidambaram in Parliament was also seen through the prism of the party’s concern over the strictures of the government in the draft report on 2G scam.
Aware that numbers did not favour him, PAC chief M M Joshi did not accept the demand for a vote and instead allowed a discussion on the letter that the ruling alliance members and their new found allies, SP and BSP, gave him. The proceedings deteriorated sharply in the afternoon when Congress members realized that Joshi had no intention of calling a vote.
With Congress and its allies barracking him, Joshi said no discussion could be held and adjourned the meeting abruptly.
This caused considerable unrest among ruling alliance MPs who tried to prevent him from leaving the committee room and later elected Congress MP Saifuddin Soz as
chairman. Later, they tried to occupy Joshi’s office.
The tale may not end here. Joshi and other Opposition MPs are believed to have decided to present the draft as the official report to Speaker Meira Kumar. There will be a covering letter detailing extraordinary events that marked Thursday’s meeting and Joshi will state that the report has been adopted.
The ball will then be firmly in the Speaker’s court with Opposition sources saying Kumar will have to go along with what the committee chair submits. UPA members can be expected to petition the Speaker as well, saying that Joshi had thwarted them and not allowed a majority dissent from being registered.
As things stand, the draft report with its damaging references to the government is in the public domain as it is electronically available. A few changes suggested by Opposition members Yashwant Sinha and N K Singh might be incorporated. References to the depositions by the cabinet secretary, principal secretary to the PM and the attorney general which never happened will also be deleted. But the draft report will be presented to the Speaker almost in its entirety, with the stinging indictments intact.
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