New Delhi: Senior BJP leader Jaswant
Singh Wednesday opposed a CBI investigation into the housing
society scam in Mumbai, in which some of the topmost army
officials are embroiled, saying it would be detrimental to the
morale of services and stuck to the demand of a JPC probe.
"I am personally, totally and absolutely and
equivocally opposed to senior services officers of the ranks
of Chiefs of staff being investigated by CBI. I take objection
to the Defence Minister having said that army officers of very
high ranks be investigated by CBI. This is detrimental to the
standing and morale of services," Singh told reporters in
Parliament House premises.
Singh, who had served in the army before joining
politics, said there were laid down mechanisms for dealing
with matters involving defence personnel.
"There are mechanisms within services that adequately
take care of all these things. And whatever is not taken care
of can be investigated by a Joint Parliamentary Committee
(JPC)," Singh said.
He maintained that anomalies in Commonwealth Games
projects, Adarsh Housing Society and 2-G Spectrum allocation
"all come together".
"I think it is really important that investigation
into these is not entrusted to CBI which itself most
dysfunctional and discredited," he said.
The former union minister insisted that sacking Ashok
Chavan as Maharashtra Chief Minister was not enough.
"I don`t think sacking a chief minister as an internal
administration matter is a solution to the problem. The
problem is with enormity of corruption and enormity cannot be
quantified. Therefore it is necessary that Parliament is
seized of it. It is not that earlier governments have not done
it," Singh said.
He claimed that arguments about not forming a JPC to
probe the 2-G Spectrum case as it was pending in the Supreme
Court were not strong as there is a precedence for such
matters.
"JPCs have been formed earlier also (in cases which
were in SC). I have been a member of such committees," Singh
said.
Asked about reports alleging that some associates of
BJP President Nitin Gadkari were beneficiaries in Adarsh scam,
Singh said, "Let it be investigated."
PTI
