The BJP on Thursday gave a dissent note to the JPC report on the 2G scam alleging it was prepared in the Government with the “full knowledge” of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram to ‘cover up’ their complicity. The main Opposition also dismissed the report as ‘flawed’ and a ‘bundle of untruths, half truths and contradictions’ that intends to protect the guilty.
It reiterated that the Prime Minister and Chidambaram should have been asked to depose before the JPC and regretted that even the main accused, A Raja, was not allowed to do so.
“It is regrettable that in spite of voluminous evidence on record before the committee, the final report chose not to fix responsibility of the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister’s Office, the Finance Minister and many others. Our note of dissent is designed to ensure that the political accountability of this massive scam is clearly determined and fixed against all the guilty so that it serves as a lesson for the future,” reads the dissent note by BJP members in the JPC.
The note is signed by Jaswant Singh, Yashwant Sinha, Gopinath Munde, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Harin Pathak and Dharmendra Pradhan. They claimed the JPC on 2G scam will go down in history as a complete fiasco and parties will have to “think twice” before demanding such a committee in future.
“The Congress vice-president should tear and throw away the JPC report when it is tabled in Parliament,” Sinha said taking a jibe at Rahul Gandhi who had recently
used the same words against the Ordinance on convicted
lawmakers.
The BJP members alleged that the Government “completely controlled” JPC Chairperson PC Chacko and he worked according to their directions.
"The Prime Minister, the Prime Minister's Office, the Finance Ministry, and DoT and its officials - all of them had a hand in preparing the report and in covering up the whole thing," Sinha told reporters, adding, "This entire game has been played by the Government of India. This has been done by the Prime Minister, Finance Minister and DoT (Telecom) Minister, who still holds the portfolio."
The BJP leaders maintained that they were going against convention and discussing the report with the media even before it has been made public as "Chacko himself has violated all rules."
The six MPs also wrote a letter to lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, alleging that Chacko had acted in an "arbitrary and authoritarian manner" during JPC meetings. "We apprehend that the Chairman may edit and mutilate our Note of Dissent. We are therefore constrained to send a copy of our dissent (to Speaker)," they wrote in their letter.
Clarifying that they never intended to indict the Prime Minister in the case, the BJP members said by deciding not to depose before the JPC, the PM and Chidambaram have "missed a golden opportunity to come out and clear their name."
Sinha said the PM had offered to appear before the PAC, knowing fully well that the panel did not have the authority to call the political executive. The BJP members in the JPC said they had abided by their party's decision not to resign from the panel and stay on till the end "so that we could contribute to exposing the truth." They had boycotted some JPC meetings.
BJP representatives in the panel said "the unbecoming conduct" of Chacko had forced 15 members to move a no-confidence motion against him on April 25, 2013 but the Speaker did not accept their request to replace him. She asked them to "bury their differences" and produce a report.
Objecting to the manner in which the JPC report was adopted on September 27, BJP said Chacko had "overruled all suggestions and objections and suddenly put the draft report to vote and declared that it has been adopted."
The party noted that it was "not a happy occasion" for the BJP group in the JPC because if the panel is denigrated then the Parliament is prevented from investigating the truth. In their dissent note, BJP members claimed that after the JPC on Bofors scam, this is the second instance where "incalculable damage" has been done to the institution of JPC and Parliament.