Telecom Lead India: In the ongoing 2G scam investigation, both Left and BJP demanded ouster of PC Chacko as the chairman of JPC.
15 members of JPC belonging to BJP, JD (U), AIADMK, DMK, Left parties, TMC, and BJD met Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar to convey their no-confidence in Chacko on grounds of highly partisan, unfair and prejudicial conduct besides alleged leakage of the draft report.
Besides allegedly leaking the document, Chacko is said to have stopped A Raja from meeting and sharing his inputs with the JPC Committee. Since Raja is the main accused person in the 2G scam, he should have a got a chance to share his concerns, industry analysts say.
Chacko did not offer a chance to Raja since the JPC chairman felt that the appearance of Raja may put pressure on PM Manmohan Singh to appear before the JPC.
A Raja says both FM and PM were involved in execution of telecom policies during his tenure as telecom minister.
Chacko may escape unhurt though the members of eight parties wanted the Speaker to replace Chacko with someone else.
They put the demand on a day when a meeting of JPC to adopt the report was slated but cancelled in view of death of a Trinamool Congress member of the Lok Sabha.
The JPC committee, headed by Chacko, has given clean chit to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and finance minister P Chidambaram. The report will be discussed now.
In the 30-member JPC, Congress has 11 members, including Chacko and its ally NCP has one member.
The opposition members alleged that Chacko has failed in his duty to lead the JPC to bring out the truth. “Instead he has used the JPC to conceal and subvert the truth,” their letter to the Speaker alleged.
To counter the demands of BJP and Left, the ruling Congress party sought removal of three BJP members — Yashwant Sinha, Jaswant Singh and Ravi Shankar Prasad — contending conflict of interest.
These members were instrumental in taking major decisions relating to the telecom sector that are being investigated into by the JPC as its terms of reference is spread over the period from 1998 to 2009, said letter by Congress members to the Speaker.
They pointed out that Singh was chairman of a high-level group on Telecom in 1998 and later head of a group of ministers on telecom in which Sinha and Prasad were members, PTI reported.
