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.
The Joint Parliamentary Committee to probe the 2G spectrum issue will look into the allocation and pricing of telecom licences and spectrum from 1998 to 2009.
The Unite dProgressive Alliance government and the Opposition will debate in Parliament on Thursday the terms of reference of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on 2G spectrum scam and pass a resolution.
The government on Friday gave its analysis of the Supreme Court's 2G judgments saying it "travelled beyond" the established limits of judicial review and entered the exclusive domain of the executive when it held that the policy of first-come-first-served was flawed.
As the crucial Budget session of Parliament begins, the UPA has a major chance to correct course. If it wastes it, it risks disaster, says Praful Bidwai.
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?
India needs strong action against corruption, Janata Dal - United president Sharad Yadav, the convener of the National Democratic Alliance, tells Gyan Varma
This is despite expectations of a stormy session, given the unresolved standoff on the Opposition's insistence on a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the telecom spectrum controversy.
Arun Jaitley, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, takes on the government, especially Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal and Home Minister P Chidambaram.
In this exclusive interview with Parliament expert C V Madhukar, Founder and Director of PRS Legislative Research, he tells rediff.com's Sahim Salim that there is a need for a JPC to look into the smooth functioning of the Parliament, if for nothing else.
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.
Both Houses of Parliament were adjourned till noon on Friday when Opposition members disrupted the Question Hour for the 16th working day, demanding a joint parliamentary committee probe into the 2-G spectrum allocation scam. In the Lok Sabha, members from the Bharatiya Janata Party and its National Democratic Alliance allies, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Samajwadi Party walked into the well.
Modi can abandon the path of Hindutva only at risk to his position within his own fraternity. But if he pursues a hard line, he faces the risk of being hauled up by his coalition-partners. For the first time in a decade, Modi is not in enviable situation, observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
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.
Parliament failed to function for the fifth consecutive day on Thursday with the Opposition insisting on a joint parliamentary committee probe into 2G spectrum allocation and Congress and Janata Dal Secular hitting back, alleging land scams involving the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in Karnataka. Rajya Sabha adjourned almost immediately after it met for the day with Opposition members creating an uproar, while Lok Sabha was first adjourned till noon.
Ending its nearly two-month-old boycott, Bharatiya Janata Party members on Thursday attended the meeting of Joint Parliamentary Committee on the 2G scam and said they would continue to press for summoning of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram as witnesses.
Government on Wednesday rejected the opposition demand for Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into Adarsh housing scam, saying the centre has nothing to do with it.
Amid demands for calling Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram as witnesses before the Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G, Bharatiya Janata Party members in the panel on Thursday once again abstained from its proceedings. During the last meeting of the JPC on October 11, the BJP members had stayed away after accusing JPC Chairman P Chacko of failing to finalise the list of witnesses and include the prime minister and Chidambaram in it.
Bharatiya Janata Party members on Tuesday walked out of the proceedings of a Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G scam, claiming that they were not allowed to raise the issue of finalising the list of witnesses.
On August 22 also, BJP members had walked out of the JPC meeting alleging that Congress members had used foul language when they sought inclusion of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram in the finalised list of witnesses to be called before the JPC.
The Joint Parliamentary Committee on the 2G scam will resume its proceedings next week when former Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar appears before it as one of the 'essential witnesses' before the panel starts writing the draft report.
After a pounding by the opposition, which demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee to go into allegations of corruption in the Commonwealth Games, the government said on Monday that irregularities would be inquired into "exhaustively" and the corrupt will be pursued till the "end of the earth".
As soon as the House met for the day, Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies raised the issue vociferously with Deputy Leader of the Opposition V K Malhotra taking exception to the formation of the committee.
The JPC has completed the process of questioning most of the bureaucrats in the 2G scam investigation
In the backdrop of former Telecom Minister A Raja telling the JPC that he took major decisions after consulting the prime minister, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Yashwant Sinha on Wednesday asked Manmohan Singh to appear before the panel, saying his silence will "confirm" his involvement in the 2G scam.
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.
"The decision of whether or not to grant you permission to depose before the Joint Parliamentary Committee will be taken on the basis of the members' opinion."
The opposition members were not satisfied with Home Minister P Chidambaram's statement rubbishing the charge that it had authorised any telephone tapping of politicians and alleged that the issue smacked of the 1975 Emergency days.
Sheela Bhatt explores the tangled web of deception, lies and money woven by IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi, former BCCI chief Sharad Pawar and the UPA government.
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.
A leading Catholic Church daily in Kerala has described the Waqf amendment bill as a crucial test of secularism in Parliament, urging MPs to support it. The editorial in Deepika daily comes as the union government prepares to table the bill for parliamentary consideration. The editorial calls the bill a test of secularism and warns MPs that failing to support it would mark them in history as endorsing religious fundamentalism. The paper added that the bill will also put an end to the injustices faced by thousands of Hindu, Christian, and Muslim citizens who have suffered due to the Waqf law. The editorial also recalled the recent statement addressed to Kerala MPs by Kerala Catholic Bishops' Council (KCBC) where the KCBC President Cardinal Mar Baselios Cleemis Catholicos urged amending provisions in the Waqf law that validate claims over land which people of Munambam have lawfully possessed. Opposition parties have slammed the bill as "unconstitutional" and against the interest of the Muslim community.
The meeting of the Joint Committee on Waqf (Amendment) Bill took an ugly turn as the Trinamool Congress MP smashed a glass water bottle and threw it towards panel chairman Jagdambika Pal of the Bharatiya Janata Party during a heated exchange of words with BJP's Abhijit Gangopadhyay, a former Calcutta high court judge.
In an exclusive interview with Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt, BJP MP Harin Pathak, a member of the Joint Parliamentary Committee probing the 2G scam, says without mincing words that panel chief P C Chacko cannot decide exclusively whether to summon prime accused former Union Telecom Minister A Raja or not.
Former Union Telecom Minister A Raja has rejected Joint Parliamentary Committee chairman P C Chacko's offer giving him a chance to respond on the 2G spectrum allocation issue in written submissions, saying he wants to personally depose before the panel to tender evidence on the matter.
The Joint Parliamentary Committee examining the 2G scam has sought a copy of the Presidential Reference made by the Centre before the Supreme Court on its February 2 decision on allocation of second generation radiowaves.
Former telecom minister A Raja, who is an accused in the 2G spectrum scam, has sought Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar's permission to depose before the Joint Parliamentary Committee, probing the case, and render his side of the argument.
A senior non-Congress MP, while briefing about their focus in the JPC on the 2G spectrum scam, said, "This JPC is very important. We understand the issue and we will fight tooth and nail to corner the government. My question is: can you sell petrol, milk or even vegetables in 2009 at the price of 2002? This government did it in the name of continuation of NDA's policy. How can you sell a new product at the price of an old product, at old rates?"
Hours after Congress leader Manish Tewari on Thursday said the government might get the Digital Data Protection Bill classified as a money bill, Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw refuted the charge and termed it a "normal bill".
Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan was named a member of the Joint Parliamentary Committee into the 2G spectrum scam after her colleague Abhishek Singhvi recused himself taking the plea that he had appeared for cellular operators in the court as a senior advocate.
