Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: In midst of reports suggesting a rift within the BJP over the JPC Vs PAC debate, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday tweeted her willingness to attend an all-party meeting called to try and break the deadlock over the demand for JPC on 2G spectrum issue.
The all-party meet has been called here on December 30 and 31 by Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar.
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs V Narayasamy said in Chennai that the meeting was aimed at sorting out the issue regarding the stalling of Parliament with the just concluded winter session seeing the longest shut down.
The budget session of Parliament is expected to start in the third week of February and the opposition leaders have threatened to stall the proceedings if the JPC demand was not met.
The meeting could provide an opportunity to both parties who have taken a "hard stance" on the issue and the Speaker could play the role of facilitator to break the ice, the sources said.
While the Opposition stalled Parliament during the winter session over its demand for a JPC, the ruling UPA has also remained adamant on not going for a JPC.
"The present situation is in everybody`s mind. Democracy means to bring about a mid-path and solve problems," Kumar had said while expressing hope that the imbroglio would be resolved soon.
The Speaker had earlier held a meeting with leaders to end the impasse but it proved futile.
The BJP and other opposition parties insist that Public Accounts Committee does not have the powers to fully investigate the 2G spectrum scam and a JPC should be constituted.
Two all-party meetings had been called by the government to end the impasse but failed to end the deadlock.
Rift within the BJP
All is not well within the BJP over its stand on the JPC with senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi, who heads the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), saying, yesterday, that the committee is perfectly capable of probing the 2G scam.
His statement was later slammed by Sushma Swaraj later, who reasserted that the party’s view that the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) has more teeth as compared to the PAC.
Sushma Swaraj also said that Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh`s offer to appear before the PAC has "no meaning".
"Under the Lok Sabha Rules, PAC cannot call a minister,
much less the Prime Minister. (The) Prime Minister`s offer
therefore, has no meaning," she tweeted.
Swaraj said the "scope of PAC is totally different from
that of JPC. While PAC deals with accounts, JPC deals with
accountability and governance."
Playing up the difference, Congress leader Rajiv Shukla said today: “If they (BJP) have got difference of opinion it’s their problem,” adding that the PAC is a better forum and that he hopes that the opposition has faith in it.
With PTI inputs
