Not willing to budge, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday insisted on a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the 2G spectrum allocation scam, saying larger governance issues were involved.
"Our demand for JPC probe is not just regarding Raja (former telecom minister), but there are larger issues of governance involved in this, such as the role of corporates. So our demand for a JPC stands," said senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj.
Responding to the Congress' offer that it was amenable to a discussion in Parliament on JPC, Swaraj, who is Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, said while the Opposition had clearly stated why they were demanding a JPC probe, the government never said why it was against it.
She said this had been made clear in the all-party meetings convened by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Speaker Meira Kumar (on different occasions).
"We will formulate our strategy in consultation with our National Democratic Alliance partners on the eve of the budget session," she said when asked if the Opposition would stall proceedings in Parliament during the budget session on JPC issue, as they did in the last session.
The NDA strategy would also factor in the February 8 all-party meeting convened by Mukherjee to find a way to end the Parliament logjam on the demand for JPC.
On Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal's remarks that Raja had not deviated from NDA's policies on spectrum allocation and that the previous policies were wrong, Swaraj said these were not true and the BJP would reply in Parliament.
"Whatever action on Raja is being taken by CBI is on the instructions of the Supreme Court," she said.
She declined to comment on the report of the Justice Shivraj V Patil Committee which probed the procedural lapses following the spectrum scam as she had not accessed it.
Swaraj earlier visited in Tamil Nadu's Nagapattinam district the family of Jayakumar, who was allegedly killed by the Sri Lankan Navy in January.
She handed over Rs two lakh as relief to his wife. Slamming the Centre for the continued attacks on Tamil Nadu fishermen allegedly by Lankan Navy, Swaraj blamed its 'casual attitude' for it.
"Had they taken a sterner view earlier, (later incidents) could have been avoided," she said. Swaraj said she herself will take up the issue of attacks on Indian fishermen in Parliament as her party had no MPs from Tamil Nadu.
She said the Centre should have deputed its representative to meet the families of the deceased fishermen.
Swaraj said she had been assigned to oversee the affairs of the state units of BJP in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Kerala which are going to polls soon. Swaraj said her party will make an impact in the elections in Tamil Nadu.
At present, the BJP has no representation in the state assembly. During her visit to Nagapattinam, Swaraj said the BJP would study in detail the issue of retrieving Katchatheevu, ceded to Sri Lanka by India in 1974, and then raise it in Parliament.
"I will study the issue in detail, discuss it with our party leaders and then raise it in Parliament," she told a gathering of fishermen at Pushpavanam fishing hamlet in the district.
