Joshi, Sushma Swaraj duel over 2G probe

The 2G scam seems to be now fuelling a rift within the top brass of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with two leaders Murli Manohar Joshi and Sushma Swaraj sending less than subtle jabs at each other.

After senior BJP leader Joshi on Monday said the Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC) probe into the telecom scandal could be extended to his party-led National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) tenure, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj has hit back.

Swaraj, via Twitter, put a question mark on the Josh-led PAC’s authority and made it clear why the BJP was insisting on a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe.

“Under the Lok Sabha Rules, the PAC cannot call a minister, much less the Prime Minister. Prime Minister’s offer, therefore, has no meaning. The scope of PAC is totally different from that of JPC. While PAC deals with accounts, JPC deals with accountability and governance,” she said.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday had made a offer, in writing, to appear before the PAC.

Reiterating its earlier move, the BJP had said this was not good enough because of the PAC’s limited mandate.

Apparently not having taken the move too kindly, Joshi, talking to reporters after a meeting with the Comptroller and Auditor General of India Vinod Rai on Monday, said the PAC’s powers are not limited to studying the CAG report only.

“Our agenda is only 2G but if required we can go back and look into previous reports. We are working according to rule of PAC and we can not discuss the policy decision of the government,” Joshi said.