The Joint Parliamentary Committee or JPC that looked into the 2G telecom scam will meet today to discuss and, the government hopes, adopt a draft report that has alreay been rejected by members of opposition parties. The Left and BJP object to the clean chit that the panel, headed by the Congress' PC Chacko, has given to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram. The government wants to avoid deferring the report.
Here are the 10 latest developments in this story:
Ahead of today's meeting, Mr Chacko told NDTV that the issue of calling the Prime Minister or the Finance Minister before the committee is a "settled issue". "I am not saying that these issues did not come before the committee. But this does not mean that that is the decision of the committee. Some members might be of the opinion that x be called or y be called but whatever is collectively decided by the committee, that view prevails. That is why we did not call them," he said.
The Opposition wants a vote against the report. Mr Chacko said he would like it adopted unanimously and without a vote. He also hoped the JPC would adopt the report today.
That might prove difficult. BJP leader Yashwant Sinha told NDTV today that Mr Chacko has lost the confidence of the committee members and that they will not accept the report. (Watch) Sources said Mr Sinha and the DMK's T R Baalu are in touch with parties like the Biju Janata Dal and the Left to gather support in opposition of the draft report.
Mulayam Singh's Samajwadi Party has said it will vote against the report. Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) says it will comment only after seeing the report.
In a letter to the Prime Minister on Tuesday, his third such letter, BJP leader Yashwant Sinha once again asked him to testify for the JPC. "Your silence will confirm... that you were fully involved in the 2G scam and if Sri Raja is guilty, so are you," Mr Sinha wrote. (Read full text of letter here)
Lawmakers from the Opposition on the committee say Mr Chacko has ignored their objections and absolved the PM and the Finance Minister of any role in the 2G scam. In the controversial report, Mr Chacko has concluded that former telecom minister A Raja "misled" the Prime Minister.
A Raja was the Telecom Minister in 2008 and is accused of giving cheap telecom licences and free second generation spectrum to ineligible companies. He has alleged that the PM sanctioned all his policies. Earlier this week, he sent a detailed note to the JPC, alleging that the Prime Minister and Mr Chidambaram were kept informed orally and in writing of all his actions, including tweaking a first-come-first-serve policy in 2008, to decide which companies would get licenses. (Read)
Mr Raja's party, the DMK, has rejected the report asking how he could have misled a minister? The party has questioned why Mr Raja was not allowed to defend himself before the JPC.
The 30-member JPC, set up in March 2011, is expected to table its report on 2G scam in Parliament by May 10 when its term ends.
In the JPC, Congress has 11 members, including its chief P C Chacko and its ally NCP has one. The BJP has six members and NDA ally JD(U) two. DMK and BSP have two members each while Samajwadi Party, Biju Janata Dal, Trinamool Congress, AIADMK, Communist Party of India and CPI-M have one member each.
