SP, BSP join hands to help M M Joshi to sustain PAC report

New Delhi, Jun 29: Not all may be over for the controversial Public Accounts Committee report on the 2g telecom scam as senior BJP leader and chairman of the panel Murli Manohar Joshi has found support from the Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi party. This unlikely alliance, will in all probability thwart attempts by the Congress members in the committee to sidestep the report indicting the government for failing to prevent the scam.

The senior BJP leader's efforts to restart discussion on the report was strongly opposed by Congress leaders in the committee who argued that a Joint Parliamentary Committee was now examining telecom issues.

It can be recalled that the report initially submitted by the committee was returned back by Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar on the ground that it was not formally adopted by the members of the panel.

While the Congress members kept opposing, Joshi kept the report 'alive' by the help of the Opposition members on the panel. They argued that the Speaker of the Lok Sabha had not issued any instructions apart from noting that the committee did not adopt it.

It can be recalled that according to the leaked PAC report, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and P Chidambaram in his former capacity as the finance minister were sharply indicted.

Another interesting facet that has come out of the recent development is the upcoming Assembly polls in the state of Uttar Pradesh where neither the SP nor the BSP want to leave an inch to the Congress to revive its floundering political fortunes in the state.

While the same SP and BSP leaders were firmly in support of the Congress leaders in the panel, what happened overnight to force them to change their stance and shift loyalties to the BJP leader is to be seen.

There surely seems to be an interesting political tussle lurking around the corner with the focus periodically shifting from Uttar Pradesh to the PAC report. There should be no surprises that BJP tone down its attack on UP government and Congress highlighting it to drive home some brownie points before the 2012 Assembly polls.

OneIndia News