Need JPC to tackle larger issue of corporate and polity: Sushma

There are larger questions of governance. There are larger questions of corruption… After whatever has come in the tapes… It is for introspection. We dont want to keep the government in the dock. We need JPC for systemic correction. We need JPC for remedial measures.

Asked whether she can assure that the JPC would not be used as a vindictive,name-calling body,she said,Not at all.

We have told the government also that we dont want only to probe 2G spectrum,CWG,Adarsh Society or anything… We have told the government that there are larger issues of governance which we need to sit and talk, she added.

Swaraj pointed out that while the ongoing investigations are into scams,the Radia tapes have put a question mark on the very existence of democracy.

That the corporates influence into India polity is to this extent that all four pillars have come under a cloud… Corporates decide how ministry would be formed. Corporates decide which portfolio will be given to whom. We need to ponder over all these issues, she said.

We need to ponder over the system. Can the Supreme Court suggest a remedy for this? Can the PAC suggest a remedy for this. Only a body specially constituted for this purpose can do that, she added.

The Leader of the Opposition slammed the Government for not conceding the opposition demand for a JPC and hoped that government would blink if signals are sent that there will be no session if there is no JPC. I am optimistic, she noted.

Criticising the PM,she said,If the PM can appear before the PAC,why cant he appear before JPC. It is beyond my comprehension.

Swaraj,who contested against Sonia Gandhi from Bellary in 1999 and later aggressively raised her foreign origin vowing to shave her head if the latter becomes prime minister,said the Congress chief has changed when it comes to interacting with the Opposition.

Earlier she was very quiet. She never used to speak… Now she interacts. Now she opens up, she said. Recollecting that she had called on Sonia Gandhi at her residence after becoming the Parliamentary Affairs Minister,Swaraj said,I think she is reciprocating that now.

She,however,maintained that she will still oppose Gandhi if she stakes a claim for prime ministership. Even today,if she claims for that post,I will do the same. I will also repeat the same vows. I will never accept a foreigner as Prime Minister of the country. It hurts my sensibilities. It hurts the sensibilities of Indians. That has not changed and will not change, she said.

On Karnataka,she indicated that the fate of B S Yeddyurappa is still not decided. She said the party was seized of the matter. Asked if Karnataka undermines the moral position of the party,she said: It doesnt because we are seized of the matter.

She said L K Advani has already debunked the perception that we have not done anything and we will not do anything.

In the light of the Binayak Sen episode,she said the PMO and Sonia Gandhi-headed NAC are at loggerheads on the question of tackling Naxalism.

There is a vast difference of opinion between members of the NAC and people close to the PMO. The Home Minister wants to deal with it with tough hands. We have always supported him. But have you seen the statements of NAC members? They remind us of the colonial Raj, she said.

She said if some members of the NAC speak in such a manner,how will the PMO work because he (the PM) also gets the signals.