BJP shocked at Pranab Mukherjee’s Maoist remark

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has expressed shock at the reported remark of Union Finance Minister and Congress troubleshooter Pranab Mukherjee that the Opposition boycotting Parliament over the demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the 2G spectrum scam “should join the Maoists”.

‘I am shocked to read the statement of Pranab Da who happens to be Leader of the House in Lok Sabha,” said Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj on Sunday on Mukherjee attacking them with the examples of Maoists who do shun parliamentary democracy and believe in the rule of gun.

“Does the demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee amount to not having faith in Parliamentary democracy and the Constitution?” asked Swaraj.

“The truth is that Government has more faith in the Courts and the CBI. It is the Government that is making the Parliamentary institutions redundant,” she said.

The winter session of Parliament was deadlocked over the demand for a JPC by the Opposition while the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government steadfastly refused the wish and instead emphasised on a CBI and Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) probe.