BJP yet to decide candidate to head Public Accounts Committee

With only a day left for the resignation of Jaswant Singh to come into effect, the BJP is yet to intimate to the Lok Sabha speaker who is its choice for the chairmanship of Parliament's prestigious Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
    
By convention, the main opposition gets the post and Singh had got the responsibility by virtue of being a senior BJP member before he was expelled from the party.
    
Parliament sources said the BJP has so far not given any names to the speaker for making the appointment.
    
In a surprise development, Singh had resigned as chairman of PAC middle of this month, which he had earlier refused to quit despite demands from the party.
    
Singh's resignation has been accepted by the speaker with effect from December 31, so as to enable him complete three reports. His tenure as PAC chairman was to end in March next.
    
Prominent BJP leaders on the 22-member committee include former finance minister Yashwant Sinha and former Union minister Shanta Kumar. Another party leader Gopinath Munde, who is also a member, was recently made deputy leader of BJP in Lok Sabha.
    
The committee is constituted by the speaker each year for examination of accounts showing the appropriation of sums granted by Parliament for expenditure of government of India.
    
Singh, who was appointed as PAC chairman on August 6 was expelled from the party on August 19 for writing a book -- 'Jinnah -- India, Partition, Independence' in which he had eulogised Pakistan founder MA Jinnah and denigrated Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel.