CPI-M may rethink about participation in JPC on chopper scam

The CPI(M) may rethink its participation in the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the VVIP helicopter purchase scam if other Opposition parties do not join it, party leaders said today.
"If (CPI-M MP) T K Rangarajan is the only member in the JPC opposing the government, ... If other Opposition parties are not joining it, then there is no point of having the JPC and we will have to rethink," senior party leader Sitaram Yechury told reporters here.
So far only Rangarajan's name is in the list of the 30- member JPC, apart from those of the Congress, he said.

The JPC on the Bofors scam in 1987 had only the ruling Congress members in it following a boycott by the entire opposition, Yechury said.
His comments came in the backdrop of the BJP and some other Opposition parties expressing unwillingness to join the JPC on the grounds that without an FIR registered in the case, such a forum would be "useless" and "an attempt to befool" the people.
However, Opposition parties like Shiv Sena, BJD and JD(U) have reportedly expressed their intent of joining the parliamentary body, though they staged a walkout when the JPC was announced in Parliament.

Explaining the CPI-M's stand on the JPC, he said normally, a JPC is set up on an issue of policy. "But this is a straight-forward criminal investigation. So there is no scope or necessity for having a JPC."
"We wanted the CBI to being probe under judicial supervision. But the judiciary seems to be unwilling to supervise this investigation," the CPI-M leader said.
"Notwithstanding this, if the government still wants to have a JPC, we will not oppose it or boycott it since such a parliamentary committee is a representative body of the House," he said.