New Delhi:
There is no end to the deadlock in Parliament over the 2G spectrum scam with the Opposition sticking to their demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe. On Thursday morning, minutes after the Parliament convened for the day, both houses were adjourned till tomorrow following protests by Opposition MPs.
Sources say the government may decide today on cutting short the Winter Session as there seems to be no way out of the impasse. Several attempts by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to get the Opposition to reach a compromise have failed.
The session, which began on November 9 and was to have ended on December 13, may now be adjourned sine die soon.
The eight successive days of adjournment of Parliament without any major business translate into a loss of a staggering Rs.63 crore with the expenditure for each day of a session calculated at Rs.7.8 crore.
A huge amount of money is being wasted with the Houses not functioning. The expenditure for each minute of the day has been calculated to be Rs. 26,000 per minute.
Parliament has been in session for 10 days but there has been no business transacted yet, with the Opposition forcing an adjournment every day over its demand.
The government has failed to convince the Opposition to relent, and is also clear that it will not agree to a JPC inquiry in the matter.
The government has been insisting that the Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC), headed by BJP leader MM Joshi, should go into the CAG report.
It also suggested that multi-disciplinary investigative agencies be attached to the PAC. The Opposition has rejected this, saying it wants nothing less than a JPC. It has argued that PAC does not have powers to summon senior ministers, which the JPC does.
Sources said while all the Opposition parties are united on the demand for a JPC inquiry, some allies of the UPA and sections in the Congress have also indicated they would willing for such an inquiry to be held.