BJP firm on joint parliamentary probe into ’scams’

NEW DELHI - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Monday said it was firm on its demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into “2G, Commonwealth and Adarsh society scams”.

“Bowing to opposition pressure, A. Raja (communications and IT minister) resigned yesterday night. We want a JPC on the 2G, Commonwealth and Adarsh society scams,” BJP leader S.S. Ahluwalia told reporters here.

Asserting that the party was firm on its demand for a JPC, Ahluwalia said the governments contention that the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will look into the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on the spectrum allocation row was not satisfactory.

PAC basically does a paragraph-wise post-mortem of the CAG report. It does not probe. The terms of reference of JPC are mandated by the house, he said.

He said that though the Bofors case was looked into by the CAG, yet a JPC was constituted.

Ahluwalia said a meeting of the National Democratic Alliance leaders Monday morning had decided to press for a JPC.

Answering a query, Ahluwalia said he was not aware that the government has convened an all-party meeting Tuesday.