2G scam: Murli Manohar Joshi slams Congress

The senior BJP leader and Public Accounts Committee chairman Murli Manohar Joshi today accused the Congress of creating hurdles into the 2G spectrum probe by the PAC.

The party tried to stop the presentation of the draft report into the 2G spectrum scam, he alleged but asserted he would continue the probe and expose the "wrongdoings" of the Union government.

When the Parliamentary Committee decided to summon the law secretary, the Cabinet Secretary, the CBI Director and the then Attorney General, the Congress MPs protested, the PAC chairman said.

The Congress MPs said there was no need to summon them as the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) was investigating the spectrum controversy, he told reporters here.

However, with the intervention of Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar, the matter was resolved as she clarified that the PAC and the JPC would work simultaneously, Joshi said.

The statements of the officers could not be recorded properly as the Congress members created "hurdles" in the investigations, he said.

Somehow the report was completed but the Congress tried to stop its presentation, Joshi alleged.

"Since the finger of suspicion was pointed towards the prime minister and the finance minister, who kept mum despite knowing everything related to the 2G spectrum, the Congress rejected the report," he said.

"The PAC is a constitutional body. How they can reject its report? If this is the case, tomorrow they can reject laws enacted by Parliament and orders passed by the Supreme Court," Joshi said.

"I will continue to probe the matter and expose the government wherever irregularities are found without coming under any pressure or fear as it is the right of every citizen to know how the public money is being used," he said.

Alleging the UPA government at the Centre is the most corrupt since independence, Joshi said the BJP would continue to apprise the people about its "misdeeds".