Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: The main opposition party, BJP, on Thursday submitted a dissent note against the Joint Parliamentary Panel`s (JPC) draft report on the 2G spectrum scam, alleging a "cover-up" by the Congress government.
Addressing a press briefing in the national capital, senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha confirmed the development by saying, "We have given a dissent report against the JPC, which gave PM a clean chit."
Sinha further alleged that the JPC report on 2G scam is a "cover-up" by the Centre to protect the Prime Minister and Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
"The manner in which the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the 2G spectrum scam handled the report, MPs in future will dread asking for a JPC probe," the BJP leader said.
"The 2G scam was the country`s biggest scam ever. The Supreme Court intervened and licences were cancelled. The people of this country were looking for accountability from the JPC," the party reportedly said in its dissent note.
Coming down heavily on the JPC chairperson PC Chako, Sinha said, "We knew that the JPC will try to suppress the facts. We decided to stay inside the JPC and fight and expose the wrongdoings."
Criticising the arbitrary functioning of the JPC chief, Sinha said, "Chacko ignored every available evidence related to the 2G scam."
Accusing Chacko of violating rules as JPC chairman on 2G draft report, the veteran BJP leader said, "After February, we didn’t have a JPC meeting for 7 months."
The Left and the Biju Janata Dal have already submitted dissent notes against the controversial draft report, which gives a clean chit to the Prime Minister and P Chidambaram.
The report circulated in April says then Telecom Minister A Raja "misled" the Prime Minister in 2008 and manipulated a first-come-first-serve policy to push ineligible companies to the top of a long line of applicants for mobile network licences and second-generation or 2G airwaves.
The report also rubbishes the loss figure of Rs. 1.76 lakh crore estimated by the government`s auditor saying it was "ill-conceived".
Congress leader PC Chacko, who chairs the 30-member panel, had said that the report was adopted by a majority with 16 votes in favour as against 11 who opposed it.
