A week after making an unprecedented offer to appear before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Prime Minister Manmohan Singh went a step further today, by formally writing to the panel chairman to confirm the offer, in regard to the 2G telecom spectrum allocation probe.
Coming under fierce attack from the Opposition, especially the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Singh had declared at the Congress plenary last week that he had nothing to hide and would be happy to appear before the PAC.
“In view of recent propaganda that the Prime Minister is unwilling to be questioned by a Parliamentary committee, I would like to inform you that I am willing to appear before the PAC, should the Committee choose to seek clarifications from the Prime Minister, though I believe there is no precedent of the Prime Minister appearing before a PAC,” Singh wrote in the letter sent to PAC chairman Murli Manohar Joshi. The latter is a leader of the BJP, and a former Cabinet minister.
Joshi confirmed having got the letter. “We are examining every aspect of the Prime Minister’s letter offering to appear before the PAC...If and when the PAC feels, it will take an appropriate decision at an appropriate time on the PM’s offer,” he said.
The offer came on the same day Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai testified before the PAC on the issue. During its own earlier investigation, the CAG said the 2G allocation had caused a presumptive loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the exchequer. The report created uproar in the winter session of the Parliament, forcing telecom minister A Raja to step down from his post.
“As you are aware, the PAC has sought copies of correspondence between the Prime Minister and the Minister of Communications and Information Technology, as well as the Prime Minister’s Office and the Department of Telecommunications on issues relating to 2G and 3G spectrum,” the PM said in his letter, presuming the necessary documents had already been provided.
According to the procedure, a PAC cannot summon a minister to give evidence or for consultations in connection with the examination of accounts. It can only take evidence from secretaries of the department concerned or the head of the public sector undertaking in question.
