Author: Shoumojit Banerjee
Publication: The Hindu
Date: May 1, 2011
URL: http://www.hindu.com/2011/05/01/stories/2011050159271000.htm
The BJP on Saturday alleged that there was a sinister campaign by the Congress
to quash the truth behind the 2G scam by suppressing the Public Accounts Committee
draft report.
Talking to journalists here, senior BJP leader
Ravi Shankar Prasad said PAC chairman Murli Manohar Joshi, who was "once
lionised as a hero on his appointment, was now being outrageously vilified
by the Congress."
It was his [Dr. Joshi's] duty as Chairman
to adjourn proceedings when they get out of hand, Mr. Prasad said. He was
referring to Thursday's meeting where 11 of the 21 members on the PAC rejected
the draft report.
Criticising the move of the 11 MPs to appoint
Saifuddin Soz (Congress) as 'ad hoc' PAC chairman, Mr. Prasad said Mr. Soz,
a Rajya Sabha member, could not be made PAC chairman and that the entire procedure
was in utter violation of norms.
"The Congress had no problems when corporate
honchos Ratan Tata and Anil Ambani, and editors of several top media houses
appeared in front of the PAC. But trouble starts brewing once Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh's Principal Secretary, his Attorney-General and the Cabinet
Secretary were called before the committee.
Mr. Prasad said Dr. Joshi had called the three
officials on the basis of the correspondence between Dr. Singh and the former
Telecom Minister, A. Raja, which established "lapses" in the functioning
of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).
On the eleventh-hour support of the BSP and
the SP MPs which enabled the Congress and the DMK to "reject" the
draft report, Mr. Prasad dubbed it "heartbreak in their home State"
(referring to the quarrel between the SP and the BSP in Uttar Pradesh) and
"reunion in the capital" (their support to the Congress at the Centre).
