Backing former Telecom Minister A Raja's plea to be summoned as a witness before the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), BJP today said a meeting of the panel should be called at the earliest to take a final call on summoning the "key player" in the 2G scam.
Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha, who is a member of the JPC, has written to panel Chairman P C Chako asking him to call a meeting "at the earliest" to decide on summoning Raja as witness.
"Sri Raja was a key player in the 2G scam...He should have been called before the JPC even otherwise, but now that he has himself sent the request for deposing before the JPC, it is absolutely imperative to provide him with an opportunity to do so," Sinha said in his letter.
CPI-M member in the committee Sitaram Yechury has already supported Raja's plea to be called as witness. "The more witnesses the merrier," he said adding that his deposition would help JPC reach "closer to truth".
DMK members in JPC T R Baalu and T Siva have been pressing Chacko to call Raja as a witness.
Recently, Raja wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and Chacko in which he made a strong pitch for appearance before the JPC as a witness, claiming he has been "condemned unheard".
The DMK members also demanded calling Attorney General G E Vahanvati again before the panel after he told the JPC last month that the controversial press note regarding 2G licences was changed at the last minute by Raja in 2008 using a different pen. Vahanvati was then the Solicitor General.
Raja has also been blamed for the 2G scam by other witnesses before the special CBI court.
