Sir — As expected, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has rejected the demand of BJP leader Yashwant Sinha to appear before the Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G Spectrum scam. But what baffles us is Mr Singh’s statement that he has nothing to hide in the matter and that all the pertinent records and documents available with the Government have already been placed at the disposal of the panel.
In this context, the case of former Chief Vigilance Commissioner PJ Thomas comes to mind, when his candidature for appointment as CVC was being considered. It fell upon Sushma Swaraj, leader of Opposition in the lok Sabha and also a member of the selection panel, to point out that the most vital fact — that a criminal case was pending against Mr Thomas in a court of law —was not mentioned in his bio-data.
In spite of this and the vehement opposition by Ms Swaraj, Mr Thomas’s name was cleared. It is another matter that the Supreme Court declared his appointment as illegal, and he had to quit in disgrace. I hope all this narration makes the pertinence of the so-called ‘pertinent records and documents available with the Government’, very clear to the people.