Obliquely blaming the Opposition for the standoff in the Winter Session of Parliament, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today announced in both Houses of Parliament a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe in the 2G Spectrum allocation scandal. The PM's announcement drew strong protests from the Opposition benches in the Rajya Sabha.
As soon as Dr Singh made his statement in the Upper House, Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley strongly protested and was joined by Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M).
''While the announcement of the JPC is welcome, it was not proper for the government to say that they did not believe in the need for a JPC but still it was agreeing for the probe out of compulsion,'' Mr Jaitley said adding ''the acceptance should have been in a graceful manner.'' His objections drew protests from the ruling party benches but Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee managed to silence the protests.
Mr Yechury too joined Mr Jaitley saying it was this attitude of the government that had wasted the entire Winter Session.
Initiating the debate on the Motion of Thanks for President's Address, Janardhan Dwivedi (Congress) said he did not find fault with the Opposition's protest because there were many ways of viewing the truth.
''Ultimately the effort was to make things better for the people and the country,'' he said.
Making the statement after the Question Hour, the PM said the Winter Session was lost paralysing the legislative business and detailed the actions taken by the government.
The Government, he said was committed to root out corruption and had acted expeditiously and transparently as a CBI probe into the 2G allocation was being supervised by the Supreme Court and the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament was seized of the matter with the authorities extending all cooperation.
'' An Independent Inquiry Committee under former Supreme Court Judge Shivraj Patil was also in public domain,'' the PM said.
The government believed that all effective steps were taken but was unable to succeed in persuading the Opposition not to insist on the JPC.
'' We can ill afford a situation where Parliament is not allowed to function during the crucial Budget Session. It is under these special circumstances that the government agreed to set up JPC,'' the PM remarked.
He maintained ''India was a functioning democracy and must strive to resolve differences in a spirit of accomodation and collaboration and not confrontation. This I hope will renew the confidence in India's forward march.'' Dr Singh also said a formal motion for the JPC formation would be moved soon.
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