New Delhi, Nov. 28: The battle between the government and the Opposition on the setting up of a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) on the 2G spectrum allocation scam is likely to intensify further with the Opposition on Sunday rejecting outright all government suggestions on other ways to break the impasse in Parliament.
The finance minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, placed three
suggestions before the senior BJP leader, Mr L.K. Advani, and the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Ms Sushma Swaraj, during the day, which included a CBI investigation into the matter to be monitored by the Supreme Court. He also offered a discussion in both the Houses on the spectrum scam and one more meeting with the floor leaders in the two Houses, but made it clear that the JPC option was unacceptable.
Both Mr Advani and Ms Swaraj told Mr Mukherjee that his suggestions were not acceptable to them, and also asked how the government felt confident that the Supreme Court would pass an order directing a probe by the CBI which it would supervise.
The BJP Rajya Sabha deputy leader, Mr S.S. Ahluwalia, said “The government is primarily and Constitutionally accountable only to Parliament. The best and only option in this case is a JPC probe.”
The Lok Sabha Speaker, Ms Meira Kumar, was earlier keen to hold an all-party meeting at 4 pm on Monday to seek a way out of the impasse, but since both Ms Swaraj and her Rajya Sabha colleague, Mr Arun Jaitley, would be away in Bhopal on Monday, it had to be postponed.
The BJP sources said Mr Advani and Mr Ahluwalia were likely to lead the Opposition charge in forcing the adjournment.