2G scam: Congress slams reworked PAC report; BJP says nothing wrong

Murli Manohar Joshi, the Chairman of the reworked report of the Public Account Committee (PAC), which questions the role of the Prime Minister in the 2G spectrum allocation, has sparked a row, with the Congress dismissing the report as motivated and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) asserting that there is nothing wrong with the same. According to the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the report is said to create more trouble for the government already battling corruption charges, on the face of which he asserted that the cabinet cannot be micro- managed by the Prime Minister. On Saturday, Joshi, a senior BJP leader circulated his reworked report among the PAC members. The role of Manmohan Singh and the then finance Minister P. Chidambaram in the allocation of 2G spectrum is questioned by the report, which allegedly resulted in the loss of crores of rupees to the national exchequer.  Including the irregularities in the 2010 Common Wealth Games, the report is said to provide more ammunition to a combative opposition determined to pin down the government over a slew of corruption charges. On Sunday the Congress and the UPA members of the PAC reacted sharply to Joshi's reworked report and indicated their intention to reject the same. The removal of Joshi from the post of PAC and accused him of being interested in politics was demanded by them. It was stated by the Congress that the re-circulation of the controversial PAC report amounted to making the committee partisan and motivated. The congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said that clearly the chairman and the BJP are bent upon making the committee political, partisan and motivated. The PAC chairman or the PAC is not oxygen generating medical units to breathe life into a constitutionally dead PAC report.

Also according to him it has to be decided whether it is more appropriate for a larger or more specific committee like JPC set up for this purpose to look into the matter or the PAC which is general and is riven with a vote of no-confidence in its chairman and holds no live reference on the 2G issue as of now.

Sanjay Nirupam, the Congress MP and PAC member, rubbished the reworked report stating that the same deserves to be thrown in the dustbin.

News Report By, SM