The Congress is facing renewed pressure from United Progressive Alliance (UPA) allies to accept the Opposition’s demand for a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into the 2G scam and ensure that Parliament functions smoothly.
Top sources in the government told Business Standard its two biggest allies — Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress and M Karunanidhi’s DMK — want the current stalemate to be over even at the cost of accepting a JPC. The entire Opposition is adamant on the demand for a JPC and has been regularly disrupting proceedings of the House.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, UPA’s chief interlocutor had initially planned to call a meeting of the allies at his office this evening to discuss the issue. Alliance partners were invited to attend the meeting. A top Trinamool Congress leader was contacted by Mukherjee’s office this afternoon. When asked what the agenda was, the official did not reveal anything and said that the FM would personally talk about the issues during the meeting.
The meeting, however, was cancelled at the last moment. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar has dismissed any talk of split in the UPA on the JPC issue.
“Where is the question of split? We discuss,” he said.
NCP is a key constituent of the Congress-led UPA.
Asked whether some of the UPA allies hold different views than that of the Congress which is opposed to formation of the JPC, he said, “it will be a collective decision”.
“I don’t think any change is there. The Opposition is insisting on JPC. The government thinks the Public Accounts Committee is sufficient,” he said.
A top Congress leader, however, admitted there was pressure on the party to accept the opposition’s demand for a JPC. Banerjee’s party has already conveyed to the Congress central leadership that it was worried about public perception that the CPI(M) is fighting against corruption (by demanding a JPC) while the Trinamool is backing the UPA government and stalling efforts to initiate a probe into the 2G scam.
Initially, the Congress had two major concerns with the JPC. They feared that the JPC could call the Prime Minister before it and seek his clarifications. Two, there will be selective leaks to the press against the government ahead of the assembly elections.
