2G Scam Report rejected: Muril Manohar Joshi replaced by Saifuddin Soz as PAC chief

Bellevision Media Network

New Delhi, April 28, 2011: In an unprecedented move, 11 out of 21 members of the Public Account Committee (PAC) rejected the report  on the 2G Spectrum Scam during the meeting on Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 4 pm. As the incumbent Chairman of the PAC, Murli Manohar Joshi of the BJP Party walked out of the meeting the members elected Congress MP, Saifuddin Soz as the new PAC Chairman.

 

 Thursday’s meeting of the PAC on 2G spectrum scam which resumed at 4 pm was a heated affair with Congress, Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party demanding a division and vote on the report.

 

Joshi insisted on speaking on the issue but the members started shouting and did not allow him to continue. Joshi then adjourned the meeting and walked out without voting on the 2G scam report that he had prepared. The report was rejected as 11 of the 21 members submitted written notes casting their votes against it.

 

Murli Manohar Joshi

After Joshi walked out of the meet, the 11 members belonging to the Congress, Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party elected Congress MP Saifuddin Soz as the new PAC Chairman.

 

Sources say that when the meeting began Joshi was also asked by the members why was the report leaked to the media on Wednesday and demanded an enquiry into it. When Joshi started to speak, some of the members started shouting. They did not stop even after Joshi asked then to let him speak and he then walked out of the meeting.

 

PAC members belonging to the Congress and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), supported by Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party, joined hands and isolated Joshi and other BJP members.

 

Saifuddin Soz

An all out political war over the draft PAC report, which has blamed that Prime Minister’s Office, Cabinet Secretariat and P Chidambaram, and claimed that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was misled on the issue of granting 2G spectrum licences by former telecom minister A Raja, was expected. The PAC report has also alleged that Raja presented half truths to the Prime Minister.

 

Criticising the then finance minister P Chidamabaram’s role in the allocation process of 2G spectrum, the PAC says the finance minister pleaded with the Prime Minister to treat the matter as closed.

 

Congress and DMK have been demanding Joshi’s resignation following the leak of the report.

 

The ruling coalition also accused Joshi of having "malafide intentions" to destabilise the government after he circulated a draft report of the Committee which criticised the PMO and Cabinet Secretariat for not taking corrective action. (Agencies)