M A I N   N E W S

Congress slams Joshi’s reworked report on 2G
Says it’s politically motivated; BJP backs PAC chief
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 7
The reworked report of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which questions the Prime Minister's role in the 2G Spectrum allocation, has triggered a row. Within hours of PAC chief Murli Manohar Joshi having circulated the report, the Congress lambasted him and termed his move as politically motivated. The BJP, on the other hand, said there was nothing wrong with Joshi’s move.

The report, which also questions the role of the then Finance Minister P Chidambaram in the allocation of 2G Spectrum, is set to provide more ammunition to a combative Opposition which is determined to pin down the government over a slew of corruption charges, including irregularities in the Commonwealth Games.

Reacting sharply to the report, the Congress and UPA members of the PAC on Sunday indicated their intention to reject it. They demanded the removal of Joshi from the post of the PAC chairman and accused him of being “interested in politics”.

The Congress said the re-circulation of the controversial PAC report amounted to making the committee “partisan and motivated”.

“Clearly the chairman and the BJP are bent upon making the committee political, partisan and motivated. The PAC chairman or the PAC are not oxygen generating medical units to breathe life into a constitutionally dead PAC report,” Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said.

Congress MP and PAC member Sanjay Nirupam rubbished the reworked report, saying it “deserves to be thrown into the dustbin”.

The BJP, however, backed Joshi’s move to re-circulate the report. “The report was sent to the Speaker and the Speaker said the report has not been adopted. So naturally, if the report has not been adopted by a committee, then it has to be circulated to be adopted. So if it has been circulated, there is nothing wrong in it,” said senior party leader SS Ahluwalia. He also said that the NDA constituents will meet tomorrow morning at 10 am to decide the future course of action in Parliament.