Joshi to place 2G report before PAC

The 2G spectrum probe controversy is all set to rock the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Parliament once again. PAC chairman and senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi on Friday announced he will place the controversial report on the 2G issue, which was rejected by Lok Sabha Speaker, again before the committee this month.

In the controversial report, among other issues, the Joshi-led section of the PAC had observed that the “PM’s desire to keep the PMO at arms length indirectly helped the telecom minister to go ahead and execute his arbitrary and dubious designs.” The draft report was rejected by majority members of the committee but Joshi went ahead and sent it to the Speaker.

The report had also come down heavily on the then finance minister P Chidambaram for making “unique and condescending suggestions that the matter (2G allocation) be treated as closed”.

Congress and other UPA partners have already decided that it would oppose any move to rake up the old issue. According to the Congress, the issue has been discussed and the report rejected. So, there cannot be any further move to revive the report or the topic when the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) has started investigating the same.

Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar had returned the controversial PAC report on 2G spectrum allocation scam on June 14. The report was submitted by Joshi on April 30 after it was rejected by 11 members in the 21 member committee.