JPC could be a broad-based committee

New Delhi, Feb 20: The government could be making the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the 2G scam a big affair to accommodate as many parties as possible.

Government circles say that the effort is to make it a "broad-based committee."

Deputy leader of BJP in Lok Sabha Gopinath Munde, as also other opposition party members, have also made a similar demand suggesting that the committee could be of more than 30 members to adjust smaller parties.

The talk is also that a Union Minister could be asked to join and head the committee but there is no confirmation on this matter as yet.

B Shankeranand had resigned as Cabinet Minister in the Rajiv Gandhi government to head the JPC on Bofors scandal.

Sources said that if the JPC could be a 30-member affair then it would comprise 20 members from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha. If the Committee is set up with 21 members, then 14 will be from the Lower House and 7 from the Upper House.

If the size of the JPC is kept small, it could give representation only seven to nine major parties. Congress, BJP, Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party, BSP, JD-U and DMK could get the membership in view of their numbers. There are a total of 37 parties in Parliament.

In such a situation the AIADMK, which has been in the forefront of the demand for a JPC, is unlikely to be a member in view of lack of strength in Parliament and similar will be the fate of NCP, National Conference and Muslim League, despite being members of the ruling UPA.

PTI