Expelled BJP leader Jaswant Singh found an ardent supporter in former vice-president Bhairon Singh Shekhawat today when the latter praised his book on Pakistan-founder M A Jinnah and also appeared to reprimand the party for asking him to quit Parliament's Public Accounts Committee chairman's post.
Jaswant Singh's expulsion from the the Bharatiya Janata Party has caused further embarassment for the party as Speaker Meira Kumar had just appointed Singh as chairman of the prestigious Public Accounts Committee of the Lok Sabha.
Politics is going to get even more sharply polarised in the weeks and months to come. And the 2G scam is not going to die down so easily, says Neerja Chowdhury
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's offer to present himself for questioning appeared to have weighed in on the Parliament's Public Accounts Committee with the PAC giving him a clean chit in its draft report, while indicting arrested former telecom minister A Raja and seeking re-tendering of the 2G licences he had given for a song, causing a loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore (Rs 1.76 trillion) to the exchequer.
Anil Ambani, chairman of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group and a former Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament, was made to wait for over an hour by the Murli Manohar Joshi-led Public Accounts Committee before he was called in for intensive questioning on the 2G spectrum issue. He pleaded that since the name of his company and some key officials figure in the chargesheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation on the massive scam, he would not like to say anything.
Parliament's Public Accounts Committee has called leading industrialists, including Ratan Tata and Anil Ambani, and corporate lobbyist Niira Radia to appear before the panel in connection with the 2G spectrum scam which it is probing.
Agarwal handed over his resignation from the state Assembly to UP Vidhan Sabha Speaker Sukhdev Rajbhar on Saturday morning. The resignation of Agarwal, who was also the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, has been accepted, the Speaker told UNI in Lucknow.
Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari objected to Roy's elevation, arguing that the MLA, who had crossed over to the ruling Trinamool Congress last month after winning the polls on a BJP ticket, cannot be considered a legislator of the saffron camp.
Electoral setbacks and thwarted ambition can have an unpredictable effect on leaders,, observes Aditi Phadnis.
Murali Manohar Joshi, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, said on Thursday that no decision had been taken regarding the offer made by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to appear before the PAC for questioning in the 2G Spectrum scam.
Journalists, whose names have cropped up in the 2G scam tapes, will face the Public Accounts Committee, PAC Chairman Murli Manohar Joshi has said.
A cursory look at the speech revealed that the telling lines where he says that he has nothing to hide and makes the offer of appearing before the PAC, "I sincerely believe that like Caesar's wife, the prime minister should be above suspicion and it is for this reason that I am prepared to appear before the PAC even though there i no precedent of this."
Minutes after Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh's speech at the 83rd Congress plenary on Monday, where he offered to appear before the Public Accounts Committee in the wake of scams that have rocked the nation, he came under the fire of the Opposition.
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, speaking on the second day of the Congress plenary meet on Monday in New Delhi, said the PM's post should be above suspicion and that he is ready to appear before the Public Accounts Committee in the 2G spectrum scam even though there was no precedent to do so.
Quoting officials, The Washington Post said, the foiled assassination was part of an escalating campaign of aggression by RAW against the Indian diaspora in Asia, Europe and North America.
The defence ministry received the bags from a French firm at a cost of 11.86 million Francs, a parliamentary panel said.
The committee will consist of retired Supreme Court judges S I Imam and Rohini Marasinghe, and Irangani Perera, retired High Court judge.
Jaswant Singh could stick out like a sore thumb for BJP even in the Lok Sabha after its attempt to remove him from the Chairmanship of the Public Accounts Committee has been virtually rejected by Speaker Meira Kumar.
The high court said he was a very powerful and influential person within the power corridors of the Delhi government as he had the responsibility of 18 portfolios in the city dispensation.
Nearly Rs 3,400 crore (Rs 34 billion) in cash and other items were seized in the elections in 2022-2023, an increase of 835 per cent over 2017-2018.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes was pulled up by the Public Accounts Committee for delay in tax recovery from the hosts of the 1996 cricket World Cup.
Jaswant refuses to step down as PAC chairman
Expelled Bharatiya Janata Party leader Jaswant Singh on Tuesday rejected the party's demand to step down as chairman of the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee, saying a decision on this could be taken only by the Lok Sabha speaker and not by the party.
Shah said the new laws would give priority to providing justice, unlike the colonial-era laws that gave primacy to penal action, and made reporting of crimes even easier by recognising e-FIR, Zero FIR and electronic or digital evidence.
'Somebody was using somebody to make statements that will stir the stock market and lead to a surge.' 'A sudden surge and a sudden crash is always an ideal situation for people to make illicit gains and then siphoning off the money.'
The privileges enjoyed by MPs and MLAs are "tethered intrinsically" to the functioning of the legislature collectively, the Supreme Court said on Monday while holding that lawmakers taking bribe to vote or make a speech in the house are not immune from prosecution.
The government had taken kickbacks when coffins meant for Kargil martyrs were purchased, she said.
The bench said the petitioner must know that the high court has already passed certain directions on the issue.
Four more people die in Uttar Pradesh floods, as the overall toll rises to 67.
Or do you think there is a realistic chance of the government being brought down?
The government refuses to make available the Central Vigilance Commissioner's report on defence purchases to the Public Accounts Committee.
The committee said the defence ministry had refused to provide the Central Vigilance Commission report on the matter.
Congress members repeatedly stormed the well raising anti-government slogans forcing Deputy Speaker P M Sayeed to adjourn the House for the day.
'This is the victory of the people of Gujarat who want real development, not the hype of development.'
The committee's convenor L Binod had earlier said that the strike is not to add to the hardships of the people, but to 'pressure the government.'
The boycott is on the issue of government's refusal to part with a CVC report to the Parliament's Public Accounts Committee.
The opposition is demanding the defence ministry provide the Central Vigilance Commission's report on arms purchases during the Kargil conflict to the Public Accounts Committee.
The defence minister said it could not be given to the Public Accounts Committee.
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