NEW DELHI (TIP): Slamming the leakage of the draft JPC report on 2G scam as a “gross breach of Parliamentary propriety”, BJP on April 18 said its contents appeared like Congress documents where attempts have been made to save its leaders including the Prime Minister. “The media showed the JPC draft report on 2G scam extensively.
This is a gross breach of Parliamentary propriety where any report draft is debated, discussed, amendments are moved in the formal meeting and thereafter views are taken,” BJP spokesperson Ravishankar Prasad told reporters. “The draft report looks like a Congress document and not a JPC report in which there is an overpowering desire to save its leaders including the Prime Minister and the finance minister in the 2G scam and yet to objectively consider the wider ramification of this massive scam which shamed the country,” he said. Prasad said he was yet to go through the report as it was given to the members on Friday only. “This is a matter of grief and surprise that violating the tradition of discussing the draft report in the meeting in which amendments would be moved, even before a discussion could take place, this has come out in the media.
This is highly unfortunate and we condemn it,” the BJP leader said. He said that whatever has come out in media on the contents of the JPC report, “We have strong objections over it and we shall convey our serious objection, firmly and forcefully in the formal JPC meeting which is scheduled for April 25.” However, the chairman of the JPC, PC Chacko rubbished opposition’s charges. Denying allegations of favouring the ruling party, Chacko said he did not work on the committee as a Congressman.
Meanwhile, telecom minister Kapil Sibal warned against jumping to conlusions based on what had appeared in the media as the content of the draft report. He said it is time to learn from mistakes in the past so that they are not repeated in the future. The JPC has given a clean chit to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 2G spectrum allocation, saying he was “misled” by the then telecom minister A Raja whose assurances stood “belied”. The draft report of the JPC also rubbishes the loss figure of Rs 1.76 lakh crore estimated by CAG, saying it was “ill-conceived”.