Joshi goes soft on PMO,attacks PC in fresh PAC draft

Chairman of Parliaments Public Accounts Committee Murli Manohar Joshi circulated the last PACs draft report on the 2G spectrum allocation scam.

Chairman of Parliaments Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Murli Manohar Joshi circulated the last PACs draft report on the 2G spectrum allocation scam afresh on Saturday,setting in motion the process of its adoption by the current committee.

Sources told The Sunday Express that Joshi has made certain alterations in the draft,diluting references which are critical of the PMO on the one hand and targeting Home Minister P Chidambaram,then finance minister,on the other. Some paragraphs and sentences have been done away with. The 558-page report has some new annextures.

As the next step,the chairman would convene a meeting of PAC to take up the draft report for adoption.

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According to the procedure laid,the members would take up the document paragraph-by-paragraph for approval,amendment and adoption. In case of a divergence of views,when members are not prepared to reach a compromise,the chairman will have to put the paragraph in question to vote. However,the report has to be adopted unanimously. The last draft report was returned by Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar to Joshi in the wake the UPA contention that a majority of members had voted against the report.

Joshi has written to the members explaining that he had taken the latest step after consulting legal experts and a perusal of relevant rules,procedures and precedents. Describing the draft report as the unfinished work of the previous committee,he has circulated it among members for their information and consideration.

Joshis move implies a fresh tug of war between the government and its adversaries in the near future. The composition of the new PAC provides more muscle to the BSP,which has two members,instead of one now. The BSP alone can swing the scales either way. The Congress and its allies have nine people in the 21-member body. The NDA,CPM and BJD have a combined strength of eight. The SP has one member. The chairman can exercise a casting vote in excess of his vote as a member in case of a tie.

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