The Congress has decided to nominate West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee chief Pradeep Bhattacharya as member of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probing 2G spectrum scam in place of EMS Natchiappan.
And it wants that the second vacancy caused by the retirement of DMK member Tiruchi Siva from Rajya Sabha should also be filled by an MP belonging to the UPA. JPC chairman PC Chacko on Wednesday said that he is awaiting the filling up of two vacancies before calling a meeting of the panel for adopting the draft report on 2G spectrum scam.
Chacko wants that both the vacancies should be filled up from the UPA quota as it would help him getting the contentious draft report adopted. As things stand, Chacko is facing flak from Opposition members in the JPC. They had even complained to lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar against him. On the other hand, the Opposition is determined to stall the report as they are miffed that Chacko has given clean chit to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram in the Rs 1.76 lakh crore 2G scam but faulted the previous NDA regime.
Chacko’s argument is that since the DMK got the seat as being part of the UPA Government, the seat should come to the existing UPA constituent to maintain a balance between ruling party and Opposition. But DMK, whose leader AK Raja was forced to quit as the Telecom Minister following the scam, does not want to leave the seat. Already annoyed that despite repeated requests Raja was not allowed by Chacko to appear before the JPC to explain his position, DMK would not like to oblige the Government by leaving its seat.
However, AIADMK, whose seats have increased to seven in the Rajya Sabha, wants its own candidate on the vacant slot as it has more MPs than archrival DMK. Similar demands are being made by Samajwadi Party also, sources said. Many smaller parties like lJP of Ram Vilas Paswan and Kerala Congress having one member each also demanded that they should be represented in the JPC. For the Congress too they are more suitable to get its draft report cleared, sources said.
But it is keeping its fingers crossed and holding informal parleys with floor leaders of various political parties. Once some kind of agreement is arrived, then Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Shukla will present a resolution in the House regarding filling the vacancy.