The corporate espionage issue will reverberate in Parliament as the Budget session opens tomorrow with some parties, including JD-U, raising serious concerns over the scandal at an all-party meet called by Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu.
"Some persons mentioned the leakage of the documents. The government will respond," Naidu told reporters after the meeting today.
Five senior executives of top energy firms and two consultants are among those arrested in the sensational scandal in which classified documents, including an input for the Finance Minister's upcoming budget speech, were allegedly leaked.
Aam Aadmi Party had yesterday demanded the setting up of a commission for a time-bound probe into the matter.
Emerging after the all-party meet, JD-U President Sharad Yadav said that the scandal is a clear example of "crony capitalism".
"Those who have been caught so far are mere puppets. Who were operating them. Who are their real bosses. There is a need to catch the big fish. This is crony capitalism.
"If you have to check all this crony capitalism, you will have to act against them. They are not many -- only three or four. They are big people and have made the lives of the common man miserable," Yadav said.
He said the incident shows that the corporates in the country have become so strong that the government is virtually nothing in their eyes.
"Crony capitalism will not end as long those who are the direct beneficiaries of all these activities are not arrested and sent to jail," Yadav said even as he expressed doubts whether the government would act against the "big fish".
