New Delhi, Dec 9 (IANS) Both houses of parliament remained crippled for the 20th day Thursday over the spectrum row as an ugly business war broke out amid the government-opposition standoff that shows no signs of ending soon.
Even as vocal protests by opposition MPs demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe and the government’s refusal forced the adjournment of the house again, Rajya Sabha’s Rajeev Chandrasekhar and industrialist Ratan Tata hurled allegations against one another, virtually mirroring a battle between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress.
Tata group chairman Ratan Tata accused the earlier BJP-led governments of changing the norms of award of telecom licenses. He made the allegation in a letter to entrepreneur Chandrasekhar, who is aligned with the BJP.
Tata said: ‘I support the ongoing investigations and believe the period of investigation be extended to 2001 for the nation to know the real beneficiaries of the ad hoc policy-making and implementation.’
Chandrasekhar had earlier said in a letter to Tata that the Tata group was a beneficiary of the present Congress-led government’s ‘flip-flop’ on telecom policy and that he had also chosen to accept the benefits despite blatant violations and distortions.
‘I am personally aware because I led the fight against it and remember being immensely disappointed at the Tata Group’s remarkably self-serving position,’ said Chandrasekhar.
The Chandrashekhar-Tata row was the highlight of another day of parliamentary logjam that has seen business suspended in both houses over allegations of corruption in the spectrum allocation that have led to the exit of A. Raja as the telecommunication minister.
The developments came close on the heels of raids by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the houses of the disgraced Raja, who belongs to the Congress ally DMK, his family and associates in New Delhi and Chennai.
‘I have noting to say,’ a disappointed Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on the parliament logjam. Parliamentary Affairs Minister P.K. Bansal told IANS that the government was trying to ‘break the deadlock’.
BJP leaders meanwhile met to discuss the demand for a JPC, which the opposition says is a must for the country to get to the bottom of the 2G spectrum row that has led to huge losses to the national exchequer.
‘We will take the issue to the people,’ BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley said. He said the BJP was bent on a JPC probe as it was the most effective method of getting to the truth.
On the Supreme Court observations about the decisions by the BJP-led governments (1999-2004) in the telecom sector, he said the BJP had no difficulty when the JPC probe would begin. ‘But the party wants a JPC probe.’
In the Lok Sabha, as soon as Speaker Meira Kumar asked the house to take up the question hour, opposition members rushed towards her podium shouting slogans. As the MPs continued raising slogans, Meira Kumar was forced to adjourn the house, first till noon and then for the day.
In the Rajya Sabha too, opposition members vociferously demanded the setting up of a JPC. The house was first adjourned till noon and later for the day.
Other than some work on the first day Nov 9 in Lok Sabha, the parliament has transacted very little legislative work during the winter session. The house is due to close Monday.
Communications Minister Kapil Sibal, who has succeeded Raja, alleged that the opposition was not interested in the vindication of law.
‘Tata must be making these disclosures with some knowledge for sure,’ he said.
