Home Minister P Chidambaram on Friday attacked Public Accounts Committee Chairman Murli Manohar Joshi saying his draft report on his role in 2G spectrum allocation was a "gross distortion" which "deliberately and mischievously" omitted his suggestions on the issue.
A day after a chaotic meeting of the Parliament's Public Accounts Committee, its Chairperson Murli Manohar Joshi along with National Democratic Alliance, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Biju Janata Dal and Left members are exploring the possibility of submitting the draft report on 2G scam to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar before its term expires on Ffriday.
The Congress and the Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam on Thursday slammed the draft report released by Public Accounts Committee chairman Dr Murli Manohar Joshi and demanded that he should resign from his post. The meeting is expected to be a stormy one in view of the different stances taken by various political parties.Leaders of DMK and Congress addressed a joint press conference, where they questioned Joshi's decision to release the draft report to the media.
The Public Accounts Committee has, in a draft report on 2G scam, strongly indicted former Telecom minister A Raja and came down heavily on the Prime Minister's Office and the Cabinet Secretariat for not taking "corrective action" while not sparing even the prime minister for "some unfortunate omissions".
In an embarrassment to the Bharatiya Janata Party gernment in Madhya Pradesh, the Supreme Court on Wednesday decision of the state authorities to allot at throwaway prices land to a trust named after late party leader Kushabhau Thakre.
Etisalat DB Telecom chief executive officer Atul Jham was also questioned by the panel headed by senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi.
Public Accounts Committee Chairman Murli Manohar Joshi on Saturday made a fresh attempt to make the panel take up his controversial report on the 2G scam that had questioned the role of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
The CBI has moved the Supreme Court challenging an Allahabad High Court order that dropped charges of criminal conspiracy against top BJP leaders including L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi in the Babri Masjid demolition case.
Reserve Bank of India Governor D Subbarao on Thursday appeared before Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) probing the 2G spectrum scam to explain his position during his term as the finance secretary.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Parliament's Public Accounts Committee Chairman Murli Manohar Joshi hit out at Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal for questioning the Comptroller and Auditor General report on the 2G Spectrum scam. He said that Sibal's comments showed both the PAC and the CAG in poor light and said that the telecom minister's conduct was unbecoming.
The PAC had called the chiefs of the three defence services for a hearing after a CAG report pointed out irregularities in the supply chain management of rations by Canteen Stores Department. Singh appeared before the PAC headed by senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Murli Manohar Joshi at around 1100 hrs and senior Army officials made a presentation of management of rations in the Army.
Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai has asked Public Accounts Committee Chairman Murli Manohar Joshi for permission to react to Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal\\'s open attack on him over the 2G report, according to sources.
The mood in the government seems to have hardened and they do not seem to be in a mood to budge on the issue. Prime Minister Mamhohan Singh indicated as much during his speech at a Youth Congress meet in the capital on Tuesday.
Dr Murali Manohar Joshi, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, has demanded that Home Minister P Chidambaram should be dropped from the cabinet for his alleged misdeeds in leaking the PAC report, sending wrong data of most-wanted persons to Pakistan, his role in the 2G spectrum scam and for the rise in fuel prices when he was the finance minister.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday wrote to the Public Accounts Committee expressing his willingness to appear before the panel which is looking into the 2G spectrum allocation scam. Following up his announcement at the Congress plenary session, Dr Singh made the offer in his letter to PAC Chairman Murli Manohar Joshi. Addressing the concluding day of the Congress plenary, Dr Singh had said he would be 'happy to appear' before the PAC though there was no precedent.
The Public Accounts Committee of Parliament has sent to the Telecom Ministry, a volley of questions including why views of the Finance Ministry, Law Ministry and even the Prime Minister were ignored when taking decisions on allocation of spectrum in 2008.
In a respite to L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and 19 others in the Babri Masjid demolition case, the Allahabad High Court on Thuursday dismissed the Central Bureau for Investigation's revision petition challenging a special court decision to drop criminal proceedings against them.
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.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal on Saturday said Public Accounts Committee chairman Murli Manohar Joshi had no right to submit the draft report on the 2G scam to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar as it was 'rejected' by a majority of the committee's members.
Congress spokesperson Manish Tiwari hit out at Public Accounts Committee chairman Dr Murli Manohar Joshi on Friday, for not taking the members of the committee in confidence before the scheduled meeting on Thursday, and for trying to push his report.
Thanks to an over-enthusiastic Murli Manohar Joshi, whose anti-Congress leanings became a little too obvious, the Congress with a little help from friendly parties has scuttled the report of the Public Accounts Committee on the 2G spectrum scam. This has made sure that it cannot be tabled in Parliament, even though it has been leaked through the media.
The rally was taken out to showcase the public angst against the steeply rising prices of commodities drew BJP supporters from across the country.
The turf war over 2G Scam inquiry has refused to die down with the Joint Parliamentary Committee planning to discuss on Thursday whether the Public Accounts Committee, chaired by senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Murli Manohar Joshi, has gone beyond its mandate.
With Joint Parliamentary Committee chairman P C Chacko stating that the Parliament Accounts Committee should confine itself to the Comptroller and Auditor General report on 2G spectrum allocation, PAC chief Murli Manohar Joshi on Wednesday refused to join issue with him. He said Chacko should give his suggestions in writing.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday said Murli Manohar Joshi will continue as chairman of Parliament's Public Accounts Committee for 2011-12, currently looking into anomalies in the 2G spectrum scam, as he is doing a "good job".
Even opponents seem keen on cashing in on the Modi slogans' popularity.
The Supreme Court has served a notice to senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi and 21 others citing a conspiracy to raze the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya.
It cannot be that only in this case the CBI has developed a spine, refusing to heed the advice of its political masters.' 'There is something that does not meet the eye here,' notes Virendra Kapoor.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states' education ministers on Wednesday trashed Human Resources and Development Minister Kapil Sibal's road map for education, stressing that fiddling with examinations and a single board for 12th class examination cannot reform the education.
In a snub to Public Accounts Committee chairman Murli Manohar Joshi, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar has returned the controversial draft report filed by him on the 2G Spectrum allocation. "The draft report on the 2G issue has been returned to the PAC Chairman", sources in Parliament's PAC said on Tuesday.
Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai on Monday briefed the Public Accounts Committee about his report in the 2G spectrum allocation. His report on a presumptive loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore in 2G spectrum allocation had created a storm in Parliament and outside. The PAC, headed by Bharatiya Janata Party veteran leader Murli Manohar Joshi, is examining the controversial allocation of 2G radio waves and Rai apprised the committee of how the audit looked into the whole issue.
The Comptroller and Auditor General, whose report on a presumed loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore in 2G spectrum allocation created a storm in Parliament, will appear before the Public Accounts Committee on Monday.
The Comptroller and Auditor General, whose report on a presumed loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore in 2G spectrum allocation created a storm in Parliament, will appear before the Public Accounts Committee on Monday.
Preparations for Copenhagen is on full swing. Minister Jairam Ramesh met 5 MPs to discuss India's approach.
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
Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar on Friday sought to bring the curtain down on the turf war between the Public Accounts Committee and the Joint Parliamentary Committee, asking the two bodies to work in close cooperation and harmony with each other.
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.
Corporate lobbyist Nira Radia appeared in no mood to co-operate with the Public Accounts Committee when she appeared before them for questioning on the 2G scam on Monday morning as her answers were 'evasive' and 'clever,' preferring to use the non-descript phrase, "I do not remember" in reply to most of the questions.
Chairman of Public Accounts Committee Murli Manohar Joshi on Tuesday said that there was no conflict or clash between the Joint Parliamentary Committee and the panel headed by him and both can function within their own domain to probe irregularities in 2G spectrum allocation. He said that the JPC was supposed to work under specific terms of reference and conditions and did not have the right to summon the prime minister or any minister but PAC was a constitutional body.