Stating transparency as the major strength of Indian democracy, Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D. Raja on Wednesday backed the demand of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Yashwant Sinha to appear Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P. Chidambaram before the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) saying there is nothing wrong with this in order to bring out the truth.
"Many members of the JPC have demanded that the Prime Minister or the then Finance Minister must appear before JPC. I do not find anything wrong in what they are demanding," he added.
Raja also said the main issue is why the former telecom minister A. Raja has
not been still allowed to appear before the JPC.
"But the issue is another issue that is A. Raja, the then telecom minister, has
written several letters to JPC chairman Mr. Chacko (PC Chacko). He has demanded
that he must be given opportunity to appear before JPC. On that issue, Chacko is
yet to take a decision or Chacko is avoiding. Why not A. Raja be given an
opportunity to appear before JPC?" asked Raja.
"Otherwise, he has been saying that he took all the decisions in consultation with the Prime Minister and the then finance minister. The country wants to know the truth. JPC must probe the truth. What is the purpose of constituting JPC? JPC has been constituted to probe into all the issues and bring the truth and JPC must have that opportunity to get into the depth of the issue and find the truth. I don't think there is anything wrong in demanding that A. Raja be given an opportunity to appear before JPC," he added.
Raja further added Dr. Singh and Chidambaram should also be called to appear before the JPC in the same way.
"After all we are a democracy, transparency is the strength of Indian democracy. After all JPC is a mini-Parliament, it consists of members from both the houses of Parliament. In such a case, when the situation demands, when an issue like this demands the appearance of Prime Minister or the then Finance Minister I do not find anything wrong," he added.
Sinha, who explained the works of the JPC on 2G scam as 'scandalous', has demanded for the appearance of Dr. Singh and Chidambaram before JPC in order to unveil the truth.
Sinha, who is also a member of the JPC, has raised serious objections on not conducting the panel meeting for last two months now and demanded for the former telecom minister A.Raja to appear before the court as he is a key witness in the scam.
Moreover, he has also written to the Prime Minister regarding the same and has asked him to appear before the JPC.
Sinha had earlier lashed out at Chacko for not allowing A.Raja to disclose before JPC regarding the 2G scam and proclaimed it a very serious issue.
He suspected that the parliamentary panel is being used to hide the truth in the 2G scam.
Chacko had expressed his objection against Sinha's letter to the Prime Minister, and said it to be a 'political stunt and against norms'.
Raja was pressurized to resign from the Union Cabinet after a report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) suspected him for underrating spectrum to favour companies who were not eligible for 2G spectrum, and claimed that the government had probably lost Rs. 1.76 lakh crore in estimated revenue.
-With inputs from ANI
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