Even as Bharatiya Janata Party MPs are boycotting the Joint Parliamentary Committee looking into the 2G spectrum scam, the panel's chairman P C Chacko has ruled out summoning of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The government on Tuesday gave a clean chit to former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha in the multi-crore stock markets scam of 2001
Earlier in the day, the Comptroller and Auditor General came in for some tough questioning at the JPC meeting on its presumptive loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the exchequer in 2G spectrum allocation with some members questioning its mandate of looking into a policy decision for arriving at the figure.
If the prime minister can say all kinds of things against India, why is it a crime if Rahul Gandhi does so, Kharge said.
The controversial report of the Joint Parliamentary Committee, which gave a clean chit to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the 2G spectrum scam saying he was "misled" by the then Telecom Minister A Raja, was on Tuesday submitted to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar.
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.
With the Parliament stalled for the 18th consecutive day on Tuesday over the demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee into the 2G spectrum scam, the Congress core committee met yet again on Tuesday evening to take stock of the situation both inside and outside Parliament.
Former telecom minister A Raja has urged Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar to return the Joint Parliamentary Committee report on the 2G spectrum scandal and resubmit it with his written statement.
The Joint Parliamentary Committee looking into the issue of pesticides in colas is likely to recommend stringent norms for soft drinks to safeguard the health of the people, when it presents its report in Parliament on February 5.
The Congress on Tuesday stepped up its attack on the government over the Pegasus snooping controversy and demanded a probe by a Joint Parliamentary Committee.
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.
The House, which was briefly adjourned in the morning, will now meet at 11 am on March 13 after recess.
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.
The motion has already been approved by the Lok Sabha.
Dissatisfied with the reply about non-submission of the controversial March 25 note on 2G spectrum allocation before the panel examining the issue, non-United Progressive Alliance members of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Monday asked the finance ministry to provide input documents that helped its compilation.
The row over the 2G note on Tuesday resonated in the Joint Parliamentary Committee meeting with members alleging that facts were being suppressed, prompting the Committee to summon two top finance ministry officials besides demanding affidavits from government that all relevant documents have been given.
The Joint Parliamentary Committee has given a clean chit to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 2G spectrum allocation, saying he was "misled" by the then Telecom Minister A Raja whose assurances stood "belied".
The government is yet to set up a Joint Parliamentary Committee to look into the issues of farmers' suicides despite eight months having been passed since this proposal was agreed to in Parliament.
The government on Friday said it was not averse to a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe on the Italian VVIP helicopter deal, a move seen as an attempt to ensure a smooth budget session of Parliament commencing next week.
Amid indications that the government might agree to a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe in the 2G spectrum scam, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday said bunglings in Commonwealth Games projects and Mumbai's Adarsh Housing Society too should be brought under the panel's ambit.
Government's effort to end impasse in Parliament by reaching out to BJP for early passage of key finance bills on Friday came a cropper as the opposition indicated that it is unlikely to cooperate unless it is assured that JPC chairman P C Chacko's draft report on 2G will be rejected.
The Joint Parliamentary Committee on the 2G spectrum scam on Wednesday began examining the telecom policy pursued during the National Democratic Alliance rule as it sought to know the quantum of losses incurred during that period and decided to summon the then Attorney General Soli Sorabjee in this connection.
Bharatiya Janata Party members of the Joint Parliamentary Committee examining the 2G spectrum issue on Thursday boycotted the meeting of the panel in protest against Chairman P C Chacko's refusal to accede to their demand to summon the prime minister and the finance minister.
Dr Singh made the statement in the Lok Sabha soon after the introduction of new ministers in his Cabinet.
"Pranab Mukherjee met me this morning and said the government was in no position to accept a JPC probe," Advani said at a press conference in Parliament House on Wednesday.
The ruling front and the opposition members are at loggerheads over the Adani issue and the disqualification of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi from the Lower House.
United Progressive Alliance allies on Monday expressed full support to the government over its refusal to agree to a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the 2G spectrum scam, an issue that has paralysed Parliament proceedings for the last 12 working days. Against the backdrop of some UPA constituents appearing not being averse to the JPC probe, the government on Monday held a luncheon meeting of its allies to devise a common strategy.
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.
Slamming the leakage of the draft Joint Parliamentary Committee report on 2G scam as a "gross breach of Parliamentary propriety", the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday said its contents appeared like Congress documents where attempts have been made to save its leaders including the Prime Minister.
Citing former telecom minister A Raja's communication to the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the 2G scam, Bharatiya Janata Party member Yashwant Sinha on Monday wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, asking him to appear before the committee, following the allegations levelled against him. In his letter, Sinha said any hesitation on the PM's part to appear before the JPC will prove that he has "something to hide".
Former telecom minister and Dravid Munetra Kazhagam politician A Raja has threatened to start a hunger strike unless he is allowed to appear before the Joint Parliamentary Committee that is probing alleged irregularities in the allocation of 2G spectrum and licences during his ministerial tenure in 2008.
Earlier this week, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi held a series of meetings, including with Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav and Janata Dal-United president Rajiv Ranjan Singh Lallan.
With the figure of Rs 1.76 lakh crore loss in 2G spectrum allocation being disputed, Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai and other officials of the government auditor will be asked to appear before the Joint Parliamentary Committee looking into the issue.
The United Progressive Alliance is seriously considering increasing the strength of the proposed Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on 2G scam from 21 to 30 members to accommodate more parties, but it is in no mood to expand its scope of the JPC to cover Commonwealth Games (CWG) fiasco, the Adarsh Society scam and the cancelled ISRO S-band spectrum sale.
Raut said industrialists should be supported, but not corruption.
With the all-party meetings called by Rajya Sabha Chairperson Jagdeep Dhankhar and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla producing no breakthrough to end the deadlock in Parliament, Union ministers Piyush Goyal and Pralhad Joshi accused opposition parties of repeatedly 'insulting' Dhankhar.
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