UPA's refusal for JPC probe into 2G scam shows 'ill intentions': BJP

BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain on Friday alleged that the UPA government's "obstinate refusal" to constitute a joint parliamentary committee (JPC)  to probe various scams, including the second-generation mobile telephony spectrum
allocation, was an indicator of its "ill intentions."

"The lackadaisical attitude of the government is an indicator of its ill intentions. The prime minister himself knows very well the difference between the probe of public account committee (PAC) and JPC.

"If the prime minister is not involved and has nothing to hide, as claimed by him, then it becomes his moral duty to order constitution of a JPC by following the well-established parliamentary traditions in order to ensure proper probe into all these scams," Hussain told reporters here.

"The entire country has been shocked by the endemic and most brazen acts of corruption," he said.

"It is a matter of shame for the UPA government and the Congress party that although it had garnered votes in the name of the 'Aam Aadmi,' (common man) it has looted more than Rs250,000 crore during 2010 itself, which is the hard earned money of the common man," he alleged.

"(The looted money) is 67% of the total planned expenditure (in the Union budget) of Rs3,73,092 crore for this year," he said.

Referring to the "string of scams" that have surfaced recently such as the Commonwealth Games scam and the 2G Spectrum scam, Hussain said it indicates that "Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was virtually presiding over a regime deeply mired in corruption."

"No action was taken by the prime minister when the 2G, CWG and the Adarsh Housing society scams were being committed," he said.

"The prime minister deliberately chose to look the other way and allowed a most brazen loot of the government exchequer."

Referring to recent admissions in a book released by the Congress that "unlimited state and party power" was concentrated in the hands of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi during Emergency, Hussain said, "Acceptance of violation of democratic and human rights during Emergency is appreciable."

"The present Congress party has been compelled to accept this fact after 35 years that whatever happened during emergency was not good for the people of the country," he said.

"So far as the question of responsibility for the Emergency is concerned, BJP is of the opinion that each and every Congress leader of that time is responsible for it. No Congress leader of that time can absolve himself or herself of the responsbility for trampling democracy," he said.