Congress made it clear that it would not accept the opposition demand for a JPC probe into the matter more so as a major period of the winter session has already gone without transacting any business.
The logjam in Parliament over the issue of joint parliamentary committee (JPC) into the second-generation (2G) mobile telephony spectrum scam is set to continue tomorrow with both the government and the opposition sticking to their guns.
Congress made it clear that it would not accept the opposition demand for a JPC probe into the matter more so as a major period of the winter session has already gone without transacting any business.
"Absolutely no" was the refrain of a senior party leader when asked whether Congress would agree to the JPC demand.
Party spokesperson Manish Tewari told PTI, "The government has already walked the extra mile and addressed the issue of alleged corruption. The party has taken pro-active action into the matter. The opposition is not looking for action but for political capital, which obviously the government cannot provide it with."
The remarks have come a day when UPA's troubleshooter Pranab Mukherjee has held talks with NDA chairperson Lal Krishna Advani and BJP's leader in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj on the issue. But the matter remained unresolved with the BJP leaders rejecting Mukherjee's proposals.
Though admitting that public perception may not be very positive for the ruling party over the denial of JPC, a Congress leader said that this will also affect the image of the opposition which has been rejecting one-by-one government’s proposals to normalise Parliament functioning.
"First we said that the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) should examine the CAG report that was tabled in Parliament in the normal course of action. As they refused to be content with mere PAC, we also offered to attach a multi-investigation team with the PAC so that the issue can be examined in detail. That was also rejected by the opposition.
"We are also ready for an exhaustive discussion on the issue in Parliament and to a Supreme Court-monitored CBI investigation. The opposition’s constant denial on the issue will not go down well with the people more so after BJP failed to take action against its own chief minister BS Yeddyurappa in Karnataka, who faces allegations of corruption and nepotism," a senior party leader said on condition of anonymity.
In the day, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee also held deliberations with parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Kumar Bansal and Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel to work out a compromise formula to end the impasse which has paralysed Parliament functioning since November 10.
Patel later met the Congress president and briefed her on the issue.
The Congress core group, which had met on Friday, discussed the issue in detail.
Meanwhile, the speaker's all-party meeting is now likely to be held at 1.30pm on Tuesday, her office said.
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