AIADMK finds place in 30-member JPC

The government finally agreed to a 30-member joint parliamentary committee to probe the 2G spectrum allocation scam under pressure from the non-Congress, non-BJP parties in the UPA, the NDA, and smaller parties across the spectrum. A formal motion is to be moved in the Lok Sabha on Thursday and in the Rajya Sabha after February 28.

The JPC would be led by a Lok Sabha member from the Congress party. According to sources, the panel would have 20 members from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha. The government will finalise the terms of reference of the JPC in consultation with the Leaders of the Opposition in the two Houses.

Earlier on Wednesday, AIADMK MP M. Thambidurai met Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and NDA working chairperson L.K. Advani to request that the principal Opposition also take up its case for a 30-member JPC.

Both Mr Advani and Ms Swaraj conveyed these sentiments to the government and suggested that a bigger JPC be formed. “Even parliamentary standing committees, which are considered mini-JPCs, have 30 members. Moreover, the earlier three JPCs on corruption have had 30 members,” Ms Swaraj told reporters.

The Congress will have 11 members (eight from the Lok Sabha and three from the Rajya Sabha), the BJP six (three from the LS, two from the RS, leaving one member to ally Shiv Sena), the JD-U two, Left two, the DMK two, BSP two, and the Samajwadi Party, Trinamul Congress, Biju Janata Dal, NCP and AIADMK one member each in the JPC, sources said.

The time given for the committee to submit its report could be till the last day of this year’s monsoon session of Parliament. This will be the first JPC to be constituted after the Congress-led UPA came to power in 2004. Among likely members are Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M), M. Thambidurai (AIADMK), T.R. Baalu and Tiruchy Siva (both DMK), and Arjun Charan Sethi (BJD). The talk in political circles is that ministerial hopefuls are dreading becoming members of the JPC at a time when the PM has announced that he will reconstitute his ministry after the Budget Session of Parliament.

Source: deccanchronicle.com