JPC to meet tomorrow; trouble expected on 2G report

The JPC meeting to be held here tomorrow to adopt the draft report on 2G scam is set to be a stormy affair with Opposition parties readying to corner the Committee's Chairman P C Chacko over clean chit to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
The non-Congress members in the 30-member JPC are expected to press for a vote on the controversial draft report, a demand which Chacko is ready to concede.
Sources said BJP member Yashwant Sinha is in touch with "like-minded" members of DMK, BJD and Left to make a common point and oppose the draft report.

Sinha was believed to be working to muster the numbers to reject the draft report through voting.
Sinha, who has been spearheading the attack on government over the issue, today made clear that tomorrow's meeting would be a stormy affair.
"... The JPC is facing the risk of a complete stalemate if not total destruction. We shall deal with issue in the meeting of the JPC on April 25," he said in a letter to the Prime Minister, ahead of tomorrow's meeting, while demanding again that he should appear before the Committee.

Chacko told PTI that he would suggest that any member wanting to give dissent note would be free to do so and it would be appended in the report when it is tabled in Parliament.

He said he will "try to make them (opposition members) understand that voting is not a precedent. It is not normally done."
However, at the same time, he said rules provide for voting and "if they insist, then we may have to go for vote".