Joshi to go ahead with PAC report despite dissent

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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Murli Manohar Joshi, the head of Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC), will finalise the report on the 2G spectrum case despite differences in the 22-member panel, a source said on Thursday.

"He is trying to trying to create consensus on the report. But if he fails at the end of the meeting, he will go ahead and submit the report," the source said. The committee, with members of the ruling combine and the opposition, are meeting at the Parliament House complex here.

The draft 270-page report, which was circulated among members on Wednesday, has criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for giving an "indirect green signal" to former IT and communications minister A. Raja to execute his "unfair and dubious designs" in selling scarce radio waves at throwaway prices.

The report does not hold Manmohan Singh directly responsible for the alleged losses the 2008 sale of telecom licences caused to the nation. However, the Prime Minister does face criticism in the report.

The Congress, DMK, Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party are demanding outright rejection of the report while the BJP and others want it to be submitted as it is. The source said there will be no dissent note in the report as there are no provisions for it in the PAC.