Kolkata, January 2
Pranab Mukherjee, the senior-most member of the Union Cabinet, today caused a flutter in political circles by openly disagreeing with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s offer to appear before the Public Accounts Committee in the 2G Spectrum scam, saying that the decision had been taken “without consulting us”.

“The Prime Minister’s offer to appear before the PAC was a decision taken by him without consulting us. If he had discussed it with me, I would have advised him not to offer to appear before the PAC,” the senior Congress leader told a special meeting of the West Bengal PCC here.

But at the same time, the Finance Minister denied a rift with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the latter's offer. “It is wrong to state that there have been differences of opinion between me and the PM on his offer to appear before the PAC. I have said though Prime Minister had offered to appear before PAC, I would not have done so,” he said. “Constitutionally, the Prime Minister is accountable to Lok Sabha and not to any committee," Mukherjee said on Manmohan Singh's letter to PAC chairman Murli Manohar Joshi on December 27 offering to appear before it.

The Finance Minister said that he was a “conservative who believed in following rules of the House”. “Why does a minister not appear before a parliamentary committee. The reason is simple. A minister is answerable to the House (Lok Sabha) or to the Assembly… to 543 members in the Lok Sabha or in case of West Bengal Assembly, to the 294 members.” “A person is a minister because the party he represents has the support of at least 272 Lok Sabha members… and they are all behind the Prime Minister. They (ministers) are only accountable to whole House and not to a part of the House," Mukherjee said. He said there was only one precedence when Manmohan Singh as Finance Minister had appeared before the Joint Parliamentary Committee in the Harshad Mehta stock market scam of 1992.

Mukherjee has been the principal negotiator for the UPA government in its efforts to break the logjam over the Opposition demand for the constitution of a JPC in the 2G scam but his repeated parleys with the BJP and other parties have not achieved any breakthrough. He has demanded an apology from the Opposition, accusing it of “destroying” Parliament after they rejected his offer of a special session to discuss the JPC issue. The month-long winter session of Parliament had been a washout over the JPC demand.

On December 20, Manmohan Singh, during the Congress plenary in Delhi, had offered to appear before the PAC, saying “he had nothing to hide”.

Joshi, who belongs to the BJP, had initially not ruled out accepting the offer and had later said a decision on the issue will be taken after consulting legal experts. Despite the Prime Minister’s offer, the Opposition has remained adamant on its demand for a JPC.

Rejecting the JPC demand, Mukherjee asked, “What is the need for a JPC? It is not in Lok Sabha rules. JPC is not a court or an investigative agency. It does not have the power to punish the guilty…. Let the Opposition say why a JPC is needed but we will explain why it is not needed. The Prime Minister is not scared. He himself is open to being questioned,” the Finance Minister said.

“The PAC cannot call a minister. It can call officials, secretaries and individuals. But as I have made clear, the Prime Minister’s case is different as he has himself offered to appear. We will have to discuss the issue with the constitutional experts before taking a decision,” Joshi had said after receiving the letter.

Reacting to Mukherjee’s remarks, BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said in Delhi: “The country is certainly entitled to know if the No.2 of the Cabinet of Manmohan Singh is not in agreement with him, then on what basis is the PM claiming that his offer to appear before the PAC can ensure a fair investigation into the 2G spectrum issue.” — PTI