After bitter FM note, Chidambaram faces PAC

Continuing the attack on P Chidambaram, senior BJP leader BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi, who is also chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, indicated on Monday that the Union home minister may be called before the PAC.

“As and when the PAC takes up the 2G Spectrum issue in the wake of new documents released by the finance ministry to the PMO, it is free to examine any one, including Chidambaram,” Joshi said.

Seeking Chidambaram’s removal from the Union cabinet. Joshi said the government is trying to reduce the importance of the finance ministry’s note to the prime minister’s office and mislead the Supreme Court, Parliament and the public.

The party demanded that finance minister Pranab Mukheree spell out the inferences in his note to the PMO where he disagrees. Taking a dig at law minister Salman Khursheed for his defence of Mukherkee and Chidambaram, Joshi said: “Salman may be a good lawyer, but he cannot defend a defenceless case.”

The BJP also tried to point out the differences among the UPA ministers by listing out the latest dispute between deputy chairperson of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia and rural development minister Jairam Ramesh.

Comparing the UPA ministers with a Scandinavian rodent, Lemming, known for its mass suicide tendencies, senior BJP leader LK Advani said: “One can say the same thing about the UPA government today.”