The blame game between the leaders of the two national parties — the Congress and the BJP — on the PAC’s draft report on the 2G scam is violating the spirit of functioning of parliamentary committees which do not function on party lines. While Congress leaders are mounting pressure on the Speaker to reject the report, the Opposition has made Union minister P. Chidambaram the main target of its attack.
Union minister V. Narayanasamy dubbed Dr Murli Manohar Joshi as a BJP “agent” and alleged that from the “several politically motivated contents” in the draft report on the 2G scam, it appeared that he was not acting as the PAC chairman, according to a PTI report from Puducherry (May 8).
“It was basically wrong for Joshi to submit to the Lok Sabha Speaker the draft report that had been rejected by a majority of members of the panel,” he said while charging Dr Joshi with acting solely to tarnish the image of the Prime Minister and also of the UPA government with an intention to destabilise the government by the report.
An agency report from Chennai (May 9) quoted Mr Narayanasamy, also the minister of state for parliamentary affairs, as requesting the Speaker to reject the draft report.
In New Delhi, two Congress MPs, Mr K. S Rao and Mr V. Arun Kumar, who were members of the last PAC, had recently accused Dr Joshi of “taking away” the privilege of the new members by “unilaterally” deciding on the agenda and charged him with a “hidden agenda”. The Congress’ attack on Dr Joshi could unite the entire Opposition irrespective of the outcome of Assembly elections in five states. Opposition leaders view that the corruption issue will not die down even if the DMK-Congress led front wins the TN elections.
But the battle between the Congress and the Opposition would certainly affect functioning of the department-related standing committees and other committees, and this could also influence Parliament proceedings.
The BJP has already charged Union ministers with influencing the PAC meetings through the Congress and DMK members.
Meanwhile, Dr Joshi on Tuesday said the UPA government is trying to make the PAC a “puppet” in its hands and divide it on party lines when the mandate of the panel is to be bipartisan. “It is shocking that four ministers were sitting in Parliament office of the Congress and sending chits and giving directions to their members in the PAC to do this or do that. In a way they are making PAC a captive committee,” Dr Joshi said.