 "No Chacko removal, Meira tells Opposition members")
Meira Kumar, Speaker of the Lok Sabha, has rejected the demand of Opposition party members in the JPC for the removal of its head, P C Chacko, a senior from the ruling party.
The JPC is split equally on the issue. Kumar, in a letter written to all the JPC members, said instead of changing the chairman, they must end the tussle and produce a report. Chacko is under fire for a draft report that absolves the prime minister and the finance minister of wrongdoing in the telecom spectrum allocations controversy.
The Chacko issue was actually an outcome of a draft report approved by him , which absolved the Prime Minister and finance minister of wrongdoing on the telecom spectrum allocation controversy. His opponents on the JPC, which include members from some parties which otherwise support the Congress-led government, say they weren’t consulted on this and the draft is a blatant whitewash attempt.
“The faith reposed by Parliament is betrayed by trading allegations against each other. It is, therefore, necessary for the chairman and the members to sink their differences and present a report as mandated. Due to absence of express provisions in the rules, it will be difficult to remove the chairman of any parliamentary committee,” goes her letter.
It would, of course, the letter adds, be a different matter “if the chairman himself resigns from the chairmanship”. Chacko has already said he has no such intention or to dilute his draft report.
The division in the 30-member JPC came to light after 15 members of the opposition met Kumar to demand Chacko’s removal. The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance has demanded his draft report be rejected. The BJP also accused Chacko of selectively leaking the report to the media even before it was received by most JPC members. The BJP and its suporters on the panel have refused to cooperate till their demands are met.
What has enraged them more is that Chacko’s draft says the Vajpayee-led NDA government was responsible for causing a loss of Rs 42,000 crore onn earlier spectrum allocations.
Beside the BJP, those demanding rejection of the draft are the Left parties, the Biju Janata Dal, AIADMK and two former allies of the Congress party, the Trinamool Congress and the DMK. The opposition parties have repeatedly demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, finance minister P Chidambaram and former telecom minister A Raja be called before the JPC to answer queries on the spectrum allocation.
To counter this deman, members of the Congress party in the JPC have demanded that BJP leaders Yashwant Sinha, Jaswant Singh and Ravi Shankar Prasad be removed from the JPC because they were ministers in the Vajpayee government.
The JPC is split equally on the issue. Kumar, in a letter written to all the JPC members, said instead of changing the chairman, they must end the tussle and produce a report. Chacko is under fire for a draft report that absolves the prime minister and the finance minister of wrongdoing in the telecom spectrum allocations controversy.
The Chacko issue was actually an outcome of a draft report approved by him , which absolved the Prime Minister and finance minister of wrongdoing on the telecom spectrum allocation controversy. His opponents on the JPC, which include members from some parties which otherwise support the Congress-led government, say they weren’t consulted on this and the draft is a blatant whitewash attempt.
Also Read
Kumar’s letter points out that there is no provision in the rules to remove the head of any parliamentary panel. So, she has asked them to find an amicable solution to the stalemate, so that a final report on the allocation scam could be produced, adopted and presented to Parliament.
“The faith reposed by Parliament is betrayed by trading allegations against each other. It is, therefore, necessary for the chairman and the members to sink their differences and present a report as mandated. Due to absence of express provisions in the rules, it will be difficult to remove the chairman of any parliamentary committee,” goes her letter.
It would, of course, the letter adds, be a different matter “if the chairman himself resigns from the chairmanship”. Chacko has already said he has no such intention or to dilute his draft report.
The division in the 30-member JPC came to light after 15 members of the opposition met Kumar to demand Chacko’s removal. The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance has demanded his draft report be rejected. The BJP also accused Chacko of selectively leaking the report to the media even before it was received by most JPC members. The BJP and its suporters on the panel have refused to cooperate till their demands are met.
What has enraged them more is that Chacko’s draft says the Vajpayee-led NDA government was responsible for causing a loss of Rs 42,000 crore onn earlier spectrum allocations.
Beside the BJP, those demanding rejection of the draft are the Left parties, the Biju Janata Dal, AIADMK and two former allies of the Congress party, the Trinamool Congress and the DMK. The opposition parties have repeatedly demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, finance minister P Chidambaram and former telecom minister A Raja be called before the JPC to answer queries on the spectrum allocation.
To counter this deman, members of the Congress party in the JPC have demanded that BJP leaders Yashwant Sinha, Jaswant Singh and Ravi Shankar Prasad be removed from the JPC because they were ministers in the Vajpayee government.