Murli Manohar Joshi?s PAC report rejected; new chief elected

The Indian Parliament?s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report on 2G spectrum allocation scam was rejected by majority of the members on Thursday.

The PAC met at the Parliament House complex here on Thursday to finalize the draft of its report on the 2G spectrum scam which saw a high volume fallout among its members on Wednesday.

The 22-member PAC, headed by headed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Murli Manohar Joshi, discussed the draft report with members of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA).

According to reports, nine MPs-seven from Congress, two Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK), one Samajwadi Party (SP) and one Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)-opposed the adoption of the draft.

The Congress and DMK MPs called the draft report ?biased? and ?unilateral?.

The 11 MPs gave their signed voting slips rejecting the report, sources said.

On the other hand, BJP, Biju Janata Dal (BJD), All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and Left voted in favour of Joshi?s draft report.

Committee chairman Murli Manohar Joshi walked out of the meeting after members refused to let him speak on the issue. The situation took a nastier turn when members elected Congress MP Saifuddin Soz as new PAC chief after Joshi?s walkout.

The members also rejected Joshi?s report on the 2G scam.

Reacting to the development, BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said: ?We strongly condemns deliberate and sponsored attack on Murli Manohar Joshi by Congress party.?

In its 270-page draft, the PAC has accused jailed former Telecoms Minister A Raja for misleading Prime Minister Singh in the case.

The PAC report has given a clean chit to Singh, while severely indicting Raja and criticising Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, in connection with the 2G spectrum allocation scam in its draft report.

The PAC has also questioned the role of the Prime Minister?s Office (PMO) in dealing in the 2G case.

According to sources, the PAC felt the PMO could have intervened in the 2G case much faster.

The PAC criticised the then Finance Minister Chidambaram for inaction against Raja.

The draft report said Chidambaram ?instead of initiating stringent and swift action against all those responsible for the whopping loss to the exchequer, pleaded with the Prime Minister to treat the matter as closed?.

The Congress and DMK members on the panel, part of United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition government at the Centre, on Wednesday made a public statement, voicing their dissent at the report.

They said BJP?s Joshi, who sits on the Opposition, had steered the report with the singular aim of destabilising the government. They slammed the report as ?unilateral and undemocratic?.

Earlier, the PAC draft report on 2G scam, which does not put an estimate over the amount of loss incurred due to the allegedly arbitrary allocation of spectrum and licenses, was circulated among its 22 members.

The government’s auditor, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) released a mammoth Rs 1.76 lakh crore loss estimate from the spectrum swindle allegedly masterminded by Raja.

The current PAC’s term expires on April 30.