The Hindu : Front Page : Government offers special session to discuss JPC demand

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Thursday, Dec 23, 2010
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Government offers special session to discuss JPC demand

Neena Vyas

Pranab Mukherjee

NEW DELHI: The Central government on Wednesday offered a special session of Parliament to discuss the Opposition demand for a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) to probe the 2G spectrum allocation scandal.

It was a direct response to the call for the Prime Minister's resignation made at the National Democratic Alliance rally on the Ramlila maidan here. And it was dramatically made by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in an exchange of words with BJP president Nitin Gadkari before a live audience at a CNN-IBN awards function later in the night.

Responding to a question, Mr. Mukherjee, who is also the Leader of the Lok Sabha, said the government was ready to call a special session of Parliament to discuss the issue. “If they [the Opposition] assure us that there will be a debate, I am ready to call a special session before the budget session so that this issue [of setting up of a JPC] is debated.”

Mr. Mukherjee was the chief guest at the function. Mr. Gadkari, who was in the audience, responded by sticking to his party's stand that the government first concede its demand for a JPC. But the Finance Minister also stuck to his guns, insisting that the question should be debated inside Parliament rather than outside.

It seems what the government is offering is that let Parliament debate the issue and then decide, possibly through a vote, whether it wants a JPC to be set up or not. In fact, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Bansal made such an offer even during the winter session, but the Opposition did not agree to discuss the issue at all.

Asked for her response, Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj, who was not at the function, told The Hindu that Mr. Mukherjee's offer had not been made to her as yet. “Let the offer be made. We will respond to it,” was all that she was prepared to say.

During the winter session when the government wanted a debate to discuss the JPC and 2G spectrum allocation matter, the Opposition stand was that the JPC must be conceded first. Ms. Swaraj had also said that as the government always had a majority in the Lok Sabha, it could defeat any resolution on a JPC. In short, the BJP was not willing to allow the House to decide whether a JPC should be set up or not.

Ironically, at the very start of the winter session the BJP told the press that it had given notice for a motion demanding a JPC in three cases of alleged corruption — the 2G spectrum case, the Commonwealth Games-related cases and the Adarsh housing scandal. However, that motion was never pressed and after day one, the Lok Sabha could not conduct any business as it was stalled every day till the end of the session on December 13.

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