Volcker debate: Opp offensive fizzles out

Chidambaram said the R.S. Pathak inquiry authority was a properly constituted commission of inquiry under Section 11 of the Commission of Inquiry Act. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi were present in the House towards the later part of the debate.

On Sections 8(b) and 8(c) of the Act, which do not apply to the Justice Pathak Commission, he said these had procedural restrictions and the judge wanted complete flexibility. ‘‘This is a full-fledged commission of inquiry and its report will be laid on the table of the House with the ATR,’’ Chidambaram said. He said the documents in the Volcker report were unverifiable and would remain so till the R.S. Pathak Commission gave its verdict on it.

However, the Samajwadi Party which supports the UPA government staged a walkout after Ram Gopal Yadav, the party’s leader in the House, said his party was disappointed with Chidambaram’s reply as he had not said anything concrete.

During the brief exchanges that took place between the two sides, Congress and Left speakers raised questions about former Petroleum Minister Ram Naik’s visit to Iraq in 2002 as head of an Indian business delegation and the help he may have extended to Indian businessmen, while the Opposition pointed to the allegations in the Mitrokhin Archives.

Chidambaram, who was heard out almost without interruption, did not miss the opportunity to take a few digs at the Opposition benches — Advani who he said was tepid and NDA convenor George Fernandes whose intervention he described as ‘‘pathetic’’.

Fernandes had tried to raise questions pertaining to oil deals in Italy but was repeatedly stopped by Congress members, before Speaker Somnath Chatterjee told him to stick to the Volcker report. In the end, he could only seek action to be taken against those who have been named in the Volcker Report and who may be found guilty by the R.S. Pathak Commission.

The Speaker had earlier rejected an opposition demand to table all documents procured by special envoy Virendra Dayal, saying the commission of inquiry had already started work.