NCP wants Raja to depose as witness
In an embarrassment to Congress, UPA ally NCP has broken ranks with it by supporting the Opposition's demand to call former communications minister A. Raja as a witness before the Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G spectrum scam. The sole NCP representative in the JPC, Y.P. Trivedi, has written to panel chief P.C. Chacko demanding that Mr Raja be given a chance to present his case.
The meeting of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the 2G scam is scheduled to meet on September 27 to adopt its controversial draft report that has given a clean chit to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union finance minister P. Chidambaram but has indicted former com munications minister A. Raja.
The meeting earlier was slated for September 23 has been postponed on account of the National Integration Council (NIC) meeting. The term of the JPC was extended for the sixth time recently and now it would last till the end of the Winter Session of Parliament.
It was set up in march 2011. BJP and Left members are likely to demand a vote or at least record their dissent.
Out of the 30 members who constitute the JPC, 20 are from the Lok Sabha and 10 hail from the Rajya Sabha. Out of the 30, 12 members are from the ruling UPA — Congress (11) and NCP (1). Among its outside allies, SP has one member and BSP two.
Opposition camp has BJP (6), BJD (1), TMC (1), CPI (1), CPI-M (1), DMK (1) and AIADMK (1). JD(U), which recently split with BJP, has two members.
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