BJP targets Sibal over 2G probe panel

NEW DELHI - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday slammed Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal for announcing a judicial probe into 2G spectrum allocation from 2001 at a time when Parliament is in session.

“The general practice is not to make any policy announcement outside the House when Parliament is in session,” Senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi told reporters.

Stating that the BJP does not accept the probe, Joshi said: ” The manner in which Sibal made the announcement “is highly objectionable and may invite privilege”.

Earlier, the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley, said the BJP is disappointed with the government’s decision to set up a single member judicial committee to look into the 2G scam.

Stating that the government has been running away from a Joint Parliamentary Committe into the 2G probe, Jaitley said: “Government has been only involved in cover ups, whether it is the appointment of CVC or the role of CBI.”

Jaitley also said the issues are big and have caused massive financial losses to the country at large.

On Thursday, Sibal had announced the appointment of a one-man committee of retired Supreme Court Justice Shivaraj V Patil to probe the alleged irregularities into the 2G scam.

“We want to find out for our own knowledge how spectrum was given from time to time to the various stakeholders,” Sibal said.

“The criminal culpability aspect of the 2G probe is being looked into by the CBI under the monitoring of the Supreme Court. Our panel will look into the administrative aspects. Already, the eligibility aspect is being taken care of by the notices we issued (earlier),” Sibal said.

He said the panel would look into all documents related to the 2G allocations.

“The panel will hopefully submit a report in four weeks,” he said, adding that action, if any, will be based on the findings. (ANI)