PM should appear before JPC, insists Yashwant Sinha

BJP leader says that by not appearing before JPC, the Prime Minister is sending a signal loud and clear that he has something to hide

After Prime Minister Manmohan Singh rebuffed Yashwant Sinha's demand for his appearance before JPC on 2G, the BJP leader today said failure to do so would send a "loud and clear" signal that he has something to hide.

"If the Prime Minister says his conscience is clear, he should offer to appear before JPC," Sinha told reporters here.

"By not appearing before JPC, the Prime Minister is sending a signal loud and clear that he has something to hide," he said.

Sinha asserted that JPC is the only committee before which a minister or the Prime Minister can appear.

He accused JPC Chairman P C Chako of behaving in a "partisan manner" and trying to "scuttle" former Telecom Minister A Raja's appearance before it.

"No truth will come out if the Prime Minister and Finance Minister do not appear before the JPC," Sinha insisted.

Sinha, himself a JPC member, had written to Singh demanding him to appear before JPC to which the PM responded today by saying that a call on this issue should be taken by the Committee whose chief ruled out any such possibility.

The PM, in his letter to Sinha, also said that he had nothing to hide and all "pertinent" documents related to 2G spectrum allocation of 2008 are available with the committee.

Sinha had demanded that Singh should appear before JPC to "clear" his name after former Telecom Minister A Raja alleged that the Prime Minister was in the loop over 2G spectrum allocation.