As Oppn rejects govt offer,cracks in Cong over JPC

Congress Core Group met for the third time in the past four days to deliberate over the stalemate.

As the Congress Core Group met here for the third time in the past four days to deliberate over the stalemate in Parliament over the Oppositions demand for setting up of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe 2G spectrum scam,pressure was mounting from within the Congress to set up the JPC. At a meeting convened by Parliamentary Affairs Minister P K Bansal on Monday morning,many Congress leaders,including partys Chief Whip in the Lok Sabha Paban Singh Ghatwar and his deputy Sandeep Dikshit,favoured setting up of the JPC to end the stalemate on this issue in Parliament.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee was said to have briefed the Core Group about his discussions with Opposition leaders at an all-party meeting in the afternoon,which had failed to break the deadlock as the Opposition rejected Mukherjees proposal to attach a multi-disciplinary probe team with the PAC to look into CAG report and stuck to its demand for a JPC.

There is no change in our stance as yet, said a senior Congress leader. The ruling dispensation was said to be keenly watching the stalemate in the Opposition camp over the resignation of Karnataka CM B S Yeddyurappa.

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At the meeting convened by Bansal,Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs V Narayanasamy was of the view that there was a public feeling in favour of the JPC and therefore the government should give in to the Oppositions demand,it was reliably learnt. When contacted,Narayansamy refused to comment saying that it was an internal matter.

Mumbai-North MP Sanjay Nirupam was of the view that from the governments point of view a JPC was better than PAC as the latter was headed by an Opposition leader and you dont know what the Opposition might do,according to sources present at the meeting. He further argued that the JPC would take about two years and nobody would care about its report by then,said sources. When contacted,Nirupam also refused to comment.

Some Congress leaders like Jagdambika Pal and Rashid Alvi were,however,learnt to have opposed the setting up of the JPC arguing that it would serve no purpose,given the past record of JPCs. They contended that there would rather be calculated leaks by Opposition members to embarrass the government,the sources said. Pal and Alvi also refused to comment.

Bansal said the Congress Core Group was already seized with the matter,but he assured the party MPs that he would convey their sentiments to party leadership.

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Earlier in the day,finding no takers for his fresh offer of attaching a multi-disciplinary probe team with the PAC,Mukherjee told floor leaders of parties that he would get back to them after speaking to the Prime Minister.

The BJP and its NDA partners reiterated their demand for a JPC,while Left parties,which were open to another method for the probe earlier,were firm on a JPC inquiry this time round. The DMK maintained that it had no problem with a JPC,provided it also covered the NDA rule when the policy underwent changes. The AIADMK wanted 1994 as the cut-off year.

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said after the meeting: We said that we will not accept the government offer. Her Rajya Sabha counterpart Arun Jaitley said the PAC could only look into audit-related issues while the spectrum issue had gone beyond this.

As far as the two Houses were concerned,they were adjourned amid din for the seventh day in a row.