Congress suffers from BJP phobia, says Jaitley

New Delhi: The BJP has rejected the Prime Minister's offer to answer questions that the Opposition may have in a bevy of scams that have erupted in the last few months. (Read: PM says willing to appear before PAC)

It also says that the Congress' reference to the BJP at its plenary session now underway points to "a BJP phobia."
 
Speaking at the Congress plenary session on Monday, Dr Manmohan Singh said that even though the action was unprecedented, he is willing to appear before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) headed by the BJP's Murli Manohar Joshi. "I have nothing to hide," said Dr Singh. The PAC has begun summoning bureaucrats and others who are suspected to have played key roles in the 2G scam.  What the Opposition wants, however, is a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC).

Dr Singh said, "The PM like Caesar's wife, should be above suspicion," adding that he "has nothing to hide."

But the BJP thinks differently. "It's a matter of national concern when a PM should be pushed to a position where he says 'I have nothing to hide'," said the BJP's Arun Jaitley. "How was the party chosen to whom the telecom portfolio was given? Within the party, how was the person chosen? How was the policy framed?" he asked, referring to DMK leader A Raja who was Telecom Minister when the 2G scam was allegedly conceived and executed. (Watch: Congress suffers from BJP phobia, says Jaitley)

The 2G scam caused a complete freeze in Parliament this winter, with the Opposition refusing to allow any work till the government sanctions a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC). He said that while the Public Accounts Committee has to limit its scrutiny to the facts provided in the Comptroller and Auditor General's report, a JPC will have the authority to look into wider concerns, including other scams like Adarsh Society, and the Commonwealth Games.

"If you have nothing to hide, please be upfront and answer... and not before a forum of your own choice... it must be before the Indian Parliament or a committee of Indian parliamentarians,"  Jaitley said, adding that that the 2G scam was so large that the PM's answers could not be limited to those based on the Comptroller and Auditor General's report.

Estimated to be worth Rs. 1.76 lakh crore in a report by the government's auditor, the 2G scam forced Raja out of the government last month. That political storm erupted even as the government was tackling the obvious corruption among those who organized the Commonwealth Games earlier this year, as well as the Adarsh Society embarrassment where the Congress Chief Minister of Maharashtra was among those who seemed to have misused his office to help defence officers, politicians and bureaucrats grab flats in a building meant for defence veterans and war widows.