Oppn to intensify campaign for JPC probe into spectrum scam

Buoyed by the Supreme Court's observation on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's 'silence' on the spectrum scam, opposition appears set to intensify its campaign in Parliament tomorrow for setting up a probe by a joint parliamentary committee (JPC).

"With the entire opposition and supporting parties of the government together on the issue, the government must accept gracefully the demand for a JPC and should not waste the time of Parliament," BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar said.

AIADMK leader in the Rajya Sabha V Maitreyan echoed similar sentiments as also Sanjay Raut of Shiv Sena.

Maitreyan said that the opposition was awaiting a response from the government and if there was no reply from the government as promised by the Leader of the House in Lok Sabha Pranab Mukherjee yesterday, Parliament would not function.

CPI's D Raja said that if the govenment remained indecisive on the issue, the opposition was bound to raise the JPC demand. This was more so when the Supreme Court was asking questions to the Prime Minister himself, he said.

The Supreme Court yesterday posed some embarrassing questions to the government about the lengthy delay on the part of the Prime Minister in taking a decision on a plea for sanction of prosecution of former Telecom Minister A Raja in the controversial 2G spectrum allocation issue.

Parliament has remained paralysed for four days since the Winter Session began on November 9 on the JPC issue and the uproar continued even after the resignation of A Raja as the Telecom Minister.

Yesterday, an all-party meeting failed to break the stalemate in Parliament over the demand for JPC into 2G spectrum issue, leaving no immediate signs for return of normalcy in both Houses.

Government is insisting that the Public Accounts Committee could do the job in finding out the truth in the matter and a JPC will be out of place on this issue.

According to Raja, the government should accept the demand for a JPC or else specify if there was any other effective instrument for the purpose.