New Delhi: The 2G spectrum scam on Tuesday
brought non-Congress and non-BJP parties on a common platform
to attack the government for its "reluctance" to constitute a
Joint Parliamentary Committee to probe alleged irregularities
in allocation of the air waves.
The ten parties met here this evening to formulate a
"common strategy to tackle" the UPA on the issue as the
government has so far rejected the demand for JPC.
Top leaders of the 10 parties -- CPI(M), CPI, TDP, JD(S),
AIADMK, MDMK, AGP, Forward Bloc, BJD and RLD -- put the onus
on the UPA to end the impasse in Parliament by constituting a
JPC to probe the 2G spectrum scam.
"It is indeed unfortunate that Parliament could not
transact any business so far in the current winter session.
The UPA and its leader Congress are responsible for this by
their refusal to appoint a JPC to probe the massive 2G
spectrum scam," CPI(M) Politburo member Sitaram Yechury told
reporters here after the meeting.
Terming the scam as the "single largest corruption
scandal in independent India," he said JPCs were constituted
earlier on corruption scams of smaller dimensions.
"Apart from identifying and nailing the guilty, it is
necessary to identify how the system could be so manipulated
to result in such a massive scam. Further, on this basis it is
necessary to suggest reforms and regulations for the future
including for new legislation, if necessary.
"These two objectives cannot be accomplished by any other
Parliamentary Committee like the Public Accounts Committee but
only by JPC. The UPA government must end the present
Parliamentary impasse by constituting a JPC," he said
elaborating on the views of leaders at the meeting.
Besides Yechury, the other leaders who attended the
meeting included Prakash Karat (CPI-M), Chandrababu Naidu
(TDP), Sudhakar Reddy and D Raja (CPI), H D Deve Gowda and H D
Kumaraswamy (JD-S), Thambidurai (AIADMK), B P Baishaya (AGP),
D Deverajan and Barun Mukherjee (Forward Bloc), Arjun Charan
Shetty (BJD), Gunasekhar (MDMK) and Jayant Choudhury (RLD).
Asked whether SP's Mulayam Singh Yadav and RJD's Lalu
Prasad were invited, Naidu said he had spoken to Yadav and he
conveyed his inability to attend today's meeting.
"I have not spoken to Lalu Prasad as he is busy with
elections in Bihar. I have not contacted (BSP's) Mayawati," he
said.
Yechury said the leaders expressed "deep anguish and
concern at the exponentially growing" cases of corruption in
the country like the Commonwealth Games scam and the Adarsh
housing scam.
"Likewise, the cases of illegal mining and land grabbing
in states like Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka need to be probed
and political leadership must be made accountable," he said.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, November 23, 2010, 23:14