New Delhi:
It's war in the joint parliamentary committee or JPC that dissected the telecom or 2G scam. Opposition members have said they have no confidence in Congressman PC Chacko as its chairman and want his removal. The Congress has hit back demanding the removal of BJP members Jaswant Singh, Yashwant Sinha and Ravi Shankar Prasad for what it calls "conflict of interest."
(Read full text of the letter)This is your 10-point cheat-sheet to this story:
14 Opposition members of the 30-member committee met Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar today and handed letters requesting Mr Chacko's removal. A Janata Dal (United) member will meet the Speaker separately, making it 15 members against Mr Chacko. They reject a report prepared by Mr Chacko on behalf of the committee that absolves the Prime Minister and Finance Minister P Chidambaram of any responsibility for one of India's largest financial scandals. (Read full text of the letter)
The ruling Congress thus faces the danger of being in minority in the House committee and once again finds itself heavily dependent on Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party; it needs the SP's one member to be on its side if the panel has to vote on adopting Mr Chacko's report.
The Samajwadi Party's sole member in the panel, Shailendra Kumar, held out hope to the Congress this evening, saying that while his party opposes Mr Chacko's draft report, it is not against the chairman himself. The SP is not party to the move to seek Mr Chacko's removal. Neither is Mayawati's BSP.
Battered by the opposition's unity, Congress members of the JPC are expected to submit a memorandum to the Speaker saying the BJP's Mr Singh and Mr Sinha should be removed from the JPC as "in their capacity as Chaiman/Members of GoMs/GoT/GoT-IT and as Union Ministers, these members were instrumental in taking major decisions relating to the telecom sector that are being investigated into by the JPC as its terms of reference is spread over the period from 1998 to 2009."
Mr Chacko's report says that in 2008, Telecom Minister A Raja "misled" the Prime Minister and manipulated a first-come-first-serve policy to push ineligible companies to the top of a long line of applicants for mobile network licences and second-generation or 2G airwaves.
The Opposition blames Mr Chacko for leaking the report last week to the media and accuse him of being "partisan" and using the report to "subvert and cover the truth." They also fault him for rejecting many requests from Mr Raja to testify for the committee.
Because he was disallowed from deposing, Mr Raja has sent a 40-page note explaining his actions to the committee. He says he kept the PM updated in person and in notes on his policies. The Opposition, ranging from the BJP to the Left, says that Mr Raja must be allowed to present his version of events to the panel. The DMK, Mr Raja's party, is standing by him.
The BJP wants the report rejected and will seek a vote on it in the JPC. (Watch) It has also said that if no-confidence proceedings are on against Mr Chacko, he should not be allowed to exercise his casting vote if there is a tie. The chairman of the JPC has a vote and a casting or deciding vote.
The Congress, which has 11 members in the JPC, needs to push the report through. "I do not want voting to take place in the committee and I would request the committee to adopt the report without voting. Those who have different opinions can add dissent notes," Mr Chacko said today.
Among those who have signed letters to the Speaker against Mr Chacko today are the BJP (with six members in the JPC), the Left (two members), JD-U (two members - one has signed, the other will), DMK (two members) and the sole members of the BJD, AIADMK and Trinamool Congress.
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