Documents related to 2G spectrum allocation cannot be accessed by the public till the Joint Parliamentary Committee completes its probe and submits its report, the Central Information Commission has stated. The JPC, which is probing the high-profile scam, has directed the finance ministry not to reveal any information till it completes the probe.
Even as the government prepared the ground for a fruitful session by reaching out to main opposition BJP on the Land Acquisition Bill, new disclosures in the media might play a spoiler for it.
"I had done everything in consultation with the Prime Minister. After demitting office, I told everyone that whatever I did was in consultation with the Prime Minister," Raja said.
Joint Parliamentary Committee chairman P C Chacko on Tuesday hit out at BJP leader Yashwant Sinha for writing to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asking him to appear before the panel examining the 2G spectrum scam, dubbing it as a "political stunt" and against established "norms".
Chairman of the Upper House Venkaiah Naidu Naidu clarified that the Triple Talaq Bill will not be taken up on Friday as a consensus has not yet been evolved on the issue.
A political storm has already broken out with an agitated opposition alleging that the report on 2G is a "cover up" and has been prepared to give a clean chit to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
Former telecom minister A Raja, the main accused in the 2G scam, was not allowed to appear before the Joint Parliamentary Committee that is looking into the alleged mishandling in the allocation of 2G spectrum.
Former telecom minister A Raja on Monday wrote a strongly-worded letter to Joint Parliamentary Committee Chairman P C Chacko, slamming the draft report of the committee on the 2G scam.
A political storm has already broken out with an agitated opposition alleging that the report on 2G is a "cover up" and has been prepared to give a clean chit to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
The Opposition is all set to corner the government in Parliament which resumes on Monday after a recess with BJP and other parties deciding to raise the "deliberate leak" of the JPC draft report on the 2G scam and the reported vetting by the Law Ministry of the CBI report on coalgate.
Bharatiya Janata Party member in Joint Parliamentary Committee Yashwant Sinha on April 1 wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asking him to appear before the panel to clear his name following allegations levelled against him.
The two Houses were adjourned for the day amid sparring between the treasury and the opposition benches on the issue.
'My belief that I could protect the Himalayas was shattered.'
Tharoor put the blame for the logjam in Parliament on BJP and accused the saffron party of reducing the "temple of democracy to a rubber stamp for its agenda or worse, a notice board to announce its unilateral decisions".
The JPC has completed the process of questioning most of the bureaucrats in the 2G scam investigation
In the first two months of the current fiscal, Indian exports of finished steel reportedly grew by almost 76 per cent on a YoY basis and China alone accounted for close to 60 per cent of the increase.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee was aware of the contents of the controversial 2G note which was issued as an office memorandum at the insistence of the Prime Minister's Office, a top official told the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Thursday.
Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal brought the government into another stand-off with the Bhartiya Janata Party, accusing it of stalling Parliament in the winter session to prevent the cover up the National Democratic Alliance regime's lapses.
Former top CAG official R P Singh on Monday appeared before the Joint Parliamentary Committee looking into the 2G spectrum scam and is understood to have stuck to his stand that the presumptive loss in the radiowave allocation was only Rs 2,645 crore (Rs 26.45 billion).
On December 4, the Union Cabinet cleared the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill that seeks to grant citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan if they faced religious persecution there. The government intends to introduce bill in Parliament's Winter Session next week. What is this legislation and why is it contentious?
Prospects of an immediate end to the deadlock in Parliament over the JPC probe into 2G spectrum scam appeared dim with the Opposition and government remaining firm in their respective positions for and against such an inquiry on the eve of an all-party meeting on Tuesday.
Setting the ball rolling for the two-day BJP national executive right on the banks of Brahmaputra River in Guwahati, Gadkari launched a scathing attack on the 'corrupt and inefficient' Congress-led 'UPA -II' government and called upon the party to remain firmly united to make the lotus bloom in New Delhi in 2014.
The prime minister must clear his stand on the Rafale deal after Hollande's remarks, he said.
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Saturday said he is "worried" about the future of the Parliamentary system in the wake of a complete washout of the winter session of Parliament on the 2G spectrum issue.
Unrelenting on its demand for a JPC probe into 2-G Spectrum scam, Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance attacked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for giving "repeated clean chits" to former Telecom Minister A Raja and alleged the government was "scared" of embarrassing truths coming out.
Leader of the Lok Sabha and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has invited leaders of all parties for a luncheon meeting to discuss a way out to end the impasse in Parliament as both Houses have not been able to transact any business since the winter session commenced.
A united opposition on Monday forced adjournment of the Question Hour in both Houses of Parliament, demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the alleged irregularities in the 2G spectrum allocation.As soon as the House met, Bharatiya Janata Party members stormed the well, chanting . 'We want JPC'. They were joined by members of the Shiv Sena and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
Bharatiya Janata Party-led opposition on Wednesday created uproar in the Lok Sabha over their demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the 2G Spectrum allocation, Adarsh Housing Society and CWG scams, leading to adjournment of Parliament for the day.
Nitin Gadkari, president of Bharatiya Janata Party, has charged the Manmohan Singh government of looking the other way while officials and others associated with organizing Commonwealth Games were making money.
Sharing concerns of all sections over scams including those involving 2G spectrum and Commonwealth Games, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday asserted in Parliament that his government would do everything to clean the "public life" and ensure that "no wrong-doer" goes unpunished.
Putting aside its winter fiasco, Parliament is all set for a smooth budget session from Monday with government telling the Opposition that an announcement on the constitution of a Joint Parliamentary Committee into the 2G spectrum will be made on Tuesday.
Gandhi claimed that if a JPC probe was conducted, names of PM Modi and businessman Anil Ambani will come to the fore.
Action against auditors, last of the 276 recommendations of a JPC probing Ketan Parekh scam, is still pending.
The leaked Niira Radia tapes indicated that the health of every government institution is at stake and only a joint parliamentary probe could unravel the various facets of the 2G scam, including the 'role of power brokers' in the allocation of telecom portfolio, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley has said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday justified its demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the 2G spectrum scam, saying just holding discussions in Parliament on the issue would have no outcome as it happened in the case of price rise.
Was the prime minister's offer to appear before the Public Accounts Committee 'precedent' an afterthought? Looks like it, if one were to go carefully through the press handout being distributed at the media centre at the Congress plenary in New Delhi.
The winter session of Parliament was practically lost in pandemonium on Friday over the demand for a joint parliamentary committee probe into the 2G spectrum issue, with the penultimate day also being paralysed due the unrelenting attitude of both the government and the opposition.The logjam over the demand for JPC probe stalled both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha for the 21st consecutive working day and both the Houses had to be adjourned till Monday.
The opposition demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the 2G spectrum allocations has led to the longest shutdown of Parliament in independent India, the government on Wednesday claimed.
Angry BJP and other opposition members stormed the well disrupting proceedings for the 17th working day to press for a JPC to go into allocation of radio-waves -- a demand consistently rejected by government.
With the deadlock in Parliament continuing, Members of Parliament from non-National Democratic Alliance opposition parties on Friday approached President Pratibha Patil urging her to "advise" the government to accept the demand for a joint parliamentary committee probe into the 2G Spectrum scam.
