A meeting of parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) meeting turned ugly on Thursday with panel chief Murli Manohar Joshi walking out in anger and members of the ruling combine replacing him with Saifuddin Soz to move a resolution rejecting the draft report on the 2G spectrum case.
During the meeting at the Parliament House complex here, Congress and DMK members, supported by the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party, moved a resolution that the draft report should be put to vote. They gave in writing the support of 11 members — exactly half of the 22-member panel.
At this, Joshi, who is a leader of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), got angry, abruptly adjourned the meeting and walked out. Joshi had support from members of the Shiv Sena, Janata Dal-United and the Biju Janata Dal. But Congress member Naveen Jindal said the chairman had not adjourned the meeting. The remaining 11 members then appointed Soz as the acting chairman to preside over the meeting. Soz, in his capacity as the acting chairman, got a resolution passed rejecting the report, Jindal said.
Soz and the rest of the members then submitted the resolution rejecting the report and the written votes of 11 members to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar. The opposition has been vociferously demanding that the report be submitted as it is.
The BJP said that Joshi in his capacity as the chairman of the panel could still finalise the report and submit the report. 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.