The government has announced the formation of a joint parliamentary committee to probe the Rs 176,000 crore 2G scam. The JPC will comprise 20 members from Lok Sabha and ten members from Rajya Sabha.
A big question mark looms over whether Bharatiya Janata Party members in the Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G spectrum allocation case will attend Thursday's meeting with the Opposition still adamant that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram should be examined by the panel.
Raising slogans, members of the BRS, Left parties and some members of the Congress walked out of Lok Sabha in protest as the prime minister was speaking.
The first meeting of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on pesticide residues in safety standards for soft drinks, fruit juices and other beverages will be held on Tuesday.
The Telugu Desam Party, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam continued to raise the issue of the dam over the River Cauvery and special status for Andhra Pradesh in both the Houses. While the Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day soon after it met at 11.00 am, the Lok Sabha saw repeated adjournments, but managed to pass the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill amid the din.
Blaming the nominal inflow of household savings into stock market on lack of confidence of retail investors, a Joint Parliamentary Committee has recommended strict accountability by listed companies through certification by their chief executives.
The government is understood to have left it to the Central Bureau of Investigation and Joint Parliamentary Committee to look into the alleged irregularities in the grant of licences to Aircel, which is owned by Maxis Telecom of Malaysia, and the involvement of former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran in it.
The debate on the Rafale jet fighter deal saw a head-on collision between the government and the Congress in Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
With the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament on a questioning spree in 2G spectrum scam case, it has not gone down well with Joint Parliamentary Committee chairman PC Chacko who feels that the PAC has gone beyond its mandate, and wants a 'conflict' to be avoided. Chacko underlined that the PAC's mandate was limited to looking into accounting irregularities in the 2G spectrum allocation as highlighted by the comptroller and auditor general, and it should not give an impres
Fifteen opposition members of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G spectrum scam on Wednesday wrote to the committee secretariat rejecting the panel's draft report in toto, setting the stage for worsening of the confrontation with the government on the issue. The 15 members, who had met Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar last week to express "no-confidence" in panel chief P C Chacko, wrote separate letters stating that they are rejecting the report "in toto".
The government on Tuesday conceded the opposition demand for having 30 members in the Joint Parliamentary Committee to probe the 2G spectrum issue, giving up its earlier plan for a 21-member panel to accommodate smaller parties like All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, sources said.
The National Democratic Alliance on Monday said it will allow the Parliament to function if formation of Joint Parliamentary Committee to probe the 2G spectrum allocation scam is announced by the government on Tuesday, but would continue to raise irregularities in the Commonwealth Games-related projects and Adarsh Housing scam.
Congress MP from Andhra Pradesh V Kishore Chandra Deo is tipped to head the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the 2G spectrum scam, according to highly placed sources in the Congress party.
Nirupam had filed a defamation case against Rai after the former CAG in his book in 2014 made the allegation against him and repeated it in interviews to the media.
Terming as "unprecedented" the washout of Parliament's winter session, the Bharatiy Janata Party on Tuesday blamed the Congress for the stalemate over Joint Parliamentary Committee demand to probe the 2G spectrum scam but said that the opposition protest was not aimed at overthrowing the government.
Terming Congress president Sonia Gandhi as "gangotri" (fountainhead) of corruption in the country, Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy said on Wednesday that the Opposition should not play her game.
After promising support to the United Progressive Alliance government over the 2G Spectrum controversy, Tirnamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee took the Congress by surprise when she joined the Opposition in their demand for a joint parliamentary committee on Monday.
Sharad Pawar reckons that the NCP has value as a united, going concern, not as a gaggle of leaders in search of followers, notes Shreekant Sambrani.
Amid reports that the Bharatiya Janata Party could end its boycott of the Joint Parliamentary Committee probing the 2G spectrum allocation scam, panel chief P C Chacko on Saturday said the opposition party "owes an explanation" to the people about why they left the panel and why they want to come back.
Joint Parliamentary Committee Chairman P C Chacko on Thursday decided to refer to the Lok Sabha Speaker the demand to summon Finance Minister P Chidambaram as a witness before the panel on the 2G scam.
The Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G spectrum scam has deferred its October 3 meeting, in view of the Lok Sabha Speaker's efforts to persuade Bharatiya Janata Party, members who have threatened to quit the panel alleging bias on his part, its chairman P C Chacko said on Saturday.
The Indian Premier League scandal gets murkier and murkier by the day.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi are expected to meet on Friday evening in the backdrop of opposition demand for a probe by a joint parliamentary committee into the Indian Premier League controversy.
He was the financial secretary when the 2G licences were allocated.
Proceedings in Parliament were washed out for the second consecutive working on Tuesday as Opposition members created pandemonium on a host of issues including JPC report on 2G, Telangana, price rise and death of children in relief camps for Muzaffarnagar (Uttar Pradesh) riot victims.
Former CAG lead auditor R P Singh, who had questioned the loss figure of Rs 1.76 lakh crore in 2G spectrum allocation, on Tuesday came under fire in the JPC with opposition members contesting his claim.
Sources in the JPC said that panel Chairman P C Chacko is set to tell Raja that instead of appearing before JPC as a witness, he can submit a "rebuttal note" on the statement made by Attorney General G E Vahanvati before the Committee that the controversial press note regarding 2G licences was changed at the last minute by the former telecom minister in 2008 with a different pen.
Speaker Somnath Chatterjee rejected the Bharatiya Janata Party's demand for a joint parliamentary probe into the Spectrum deal which according to BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar is "the mother of all scams" and has favoured a few individuals to the tune of several thousand crores by resorting to underwriting the amount involved in the deal.
The Joint Parliamentary Committee on Wednesday tabled its report in the Lok Sabha on pesticide residues and safety standards for soft drinks, fruit juices and other beverages.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has given a notice for moving a breach of privilege motion in both Houses of Parliament against Joint Parliamentary Committee Chairperson P C Chacko for leakage of the panel's report on the 2G spectrum allocation issue.
With the government moving a resolution in the Lok Sabha to set up a Joint Parliamentary Committee on the 2G spectrum issue, the battle lines between the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance and the Bharatiya Janata Party have become more tightly drawn with the Congress preparing its ammunition to target the BJP during its National Democratic Alliance government, in a bid to expose the actions of their telecom ministers.
The Congress on Monday distanced itself from party member of Parliament Suresh Kalmadi's move seeking a Joint Parliamentaey Committee probe into the Commonwealth Games issue, saying it was his independent view and the party has nothing to do with it.
Is Prime Minister Manmohan Singh once again trying to derail the process of setting up a Joint Parliamentary Committee, for which hectic efforts have been made by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee having had a number of meetings with opposition leaders?
The government on Tuesday assured the Rajya Sabha that officials found guilty by the Joint Parliamentary Committee, which looked into the stock scam and the temporary freeze on Unit Trust of India's flagship scheme 64 will not be spared.\n\n\n\n
The 2010 winter session is set to go down in the history of the Parliament as one and the first one which did not deliberate even a minute. It is likely to be adjourned sine die.
Parliament was shut down for the 11th day running on Thursday without transacting any substantive business, costing the taxpayer a staggering sum of Rs 85.80 crore as expenditure on each day of the session is calculated at Rs 7.8 crore.
An all-party meeting on Tuesday failed to break the stalemate in Parliament over the demand for a joint parliamentary committee into 2G spectrum scam, leaving no immediate signs for return of normalcy in both Houses that have remained paralysed for four days.
Deputy leader of the Bhartiya Janata Party in Rajya Sabha, S S Ahluwalia made it clear during his interaction with mediapersons on Saturday that his party would settle for nothing less than a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe in the 2G telecom scam.
Amid controversy over the finance ministry's note to the Prime Minister's office (PMO) on awarding licences for 2G spectrum in 2008, a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) is holding a two-day meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Defending the walkout of its members from the Joint Parliamentary Committee meeting, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday alleged that the "brazen" manner in which the Congress leaders behaved showed the government had a "game plan" to scuttle the panel's probe into the 2G spectrum scam.
