New Delhi: As Parliament remained deadlocked for the 15th working day, NDA on Thursday declared that there was no going back on the issue of demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) into the 2G spectrum scam.
It, however, indicated that it has no plans to bring a no-confidence motion against the government on the issue.
"2G scam is a multi-dimensional scam, undermining
democracy itself... Business houses talking of composition of
the government... in view of this nature... for a thorough
probe and to bring all guilty to book, nothing short of a JPC
can do justice to the task," senior BJP leader L K Advani
said.
Addressing a press conference along with leaders of
opposition Sushma Swaraj (Lok Sabha) and Arun Jaitley (Rajya
Sabha) as also leaders of Shiv Sena and Akali Dal, he said
that the government has not been able to convince anyone in
the Opposition why a JPC was not needed.
Accusing the government of provoking it to bring a
no-confidence motion when only year has passed since the Lok
Sabha polls, he suggested that such a course of action was not
planned, noting that "every MP wants to serve the full term".
Besides, he said, he was for a fixed term for
legislatures in the country and have also met the Prime
Minister and Leader of the Lok Sabha in this regard.
Alleging that the UPA government was "indifferent" to the
problem of corruption, Advani claimed that even if the
allegation was likely to reach "high levels of political
office... the government was absolutely adamant".
"The Government cannot seriously expect the Opposition to
accept that the CBI and the CVC are the appropriate
institutions which are capable of an honest investigation into
the monumental 2G spectrum allocation scam", he said.
Advani said that the NDA has decided to launch a
"crusade" to mobilise public opinion against corruption. He
appealed to other opposition parties which have supported the
demand for JPC to join in the endeavour.
"Why is the Government running scared of a Joint
Parliamentary Committee? The Committee will be headed by a
Government nominee," Advani asked and told the Congress-led
coalition that the responsibility for the parliamentary
stalemate rests squarely on its shoulders.
Alleging that the autonomy and independence of the CBI
has been "seriously compromised", he said the investigations
by the agency "no longer inspire confidence."
"It has become a convenient instrument in the hands of
the Government either to whitewash certain investigations or
to harass political opponents", the BJP veteran said.
’CVC credibility demolished’
Noting that the Central Vigilance Commission is the
internal vigilance authority of the Government, he said "the
appointment of its chief has completely demolished the
credibility of the CVC as an institution".
"A person chargesheeted in a corruption case, who
attempted to deny the CVC and CAG its authority to question
the impropriety in the 2G spectrum allotment, was appointed as
its head," he alleged.
He said that the Opposition was no longer interested in
merely talking out the issue and it wants action. "We had to
resort to an extraordinary step of a parliamentary stalemate
when scam after scam were being pushed under the carpet by the
Government."
Replying to a number of queries concerning corruption in
the BJP-ruled Karnataka and the allegations against Chief
Minister B S Yediyurappa, he merely said "we are dealing with
it and are confident that we will deal with it... There is no
comparison".
"What can we do when we do not have so many corrupt
people", he remarked when asked to react to Congress President
Sonia Gandhi`s poser that when her party was taking action in
regard to corruption why the BJP was silent on the Karnataka
CM.
PTI
