Samajwadi Party asks UPA govt to accept opposition's demand for JPC probe

The Samajwadi Party on Saturday said that the UPA government should not shy away from the opposition demand of setting up a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) for probing the second-generation mobile telephony spectrum scam.

Blaming the Union government for the stalemate in the Parliament SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav said, "We are in favour of a smooth conduct of parliamentary proceedings and more than the opposition it is the responsibility of the government to ensure it."

By denying JPC probe, the government is itself making it an issue. "What was wrong in JPC probing the case... after all the UPA would have its chairman as well as majority (members) in the committee," Yadav told reporters here.

To a question, Yadav blamed the UPA and state governments for spiralling prices which he said have proved to be a major problem for the common people.

Referring to the rape allegation levelled against a ruling party MLA in Banda, Yadav said it was most shameful that ministers and MLAs who have a major responsibility are themselves involved in heinous crimes like rape.