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Cong agrees to send PM, finance minister to JPC

The Congress has chalked out a fresh strategy to counter the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) offensive in the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probing the 2G scandal, which can turn out to be its masterstroke in defending itself in the case. In principle, it has agreed to send both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the finance minister P Chidambaram to the JPC for questioning.

However, the Congress had taken enough precautions so that this move causes maximum amount of discomfort to the BJP. It hopes to demand the summoning of senior BJP leaders, like Sushma Swaraj, Jaswant Singh, Yashwant Sinha and others, for questioning in the spectrum scam.

The JPC, whose next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, is probing the alleged corruption scam in the telecom sector. Constituted last year, the JPC is in the process of finalising list of names of the  witnesses who would depose for evidence on the allocation and pricing of telecom licences and spectrum. The BJP has been insisting that the JPC should summon the prime minister and Chidambaram.

Sources in the Congress told Millennium Post, 'If the BJP, particularly its leader Yashwant Sinha, persists with the summoning of prime minister and Chidambaram to enhance his personal profile, then the Congress will respond by asking all secretaries and ministers of the NDA government who looked after telecom to be summoned.'

The sources, however, added, 'But, the Congress will not indulge in the harassment of the former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who is ailing, and instead have senior officials from his PMO, like Brijesh Mishra and N K Singh, come and depose. Since Sinha was a finance minister [in the Vajpayee government], he could also be in the dock, as would be the NDA vice-presidential candidate Jaswant Singh, who was the head of GoM at that time.'

The sources further explained, 'There are four sets of people under the JPC probe – administrators, regulators, corporates and the political leadership. The regulators and administrators have already been examined extensively. A large number of political leaders have also been covered.'

When contacted, the chairperson of the JPC P C Chacko chose not to comment on the core issue. He said, 'The JPC meeting will focus on an internal discussion, and I will only make a statement after it concludes on August 7.'
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