PM to announce JPC on 2G scam today

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to announce the setting up of a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) to probe the 2G spectrum scam on Tuesday.

Manmohan Singh will make a statement in the Lok Sabha in this regard soon after the introduction of the new ministers in his cabinet, sources said here on Monday.

A motion for constituting the JPC will be moved on Thursday by Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal after the Prime Minister replies to the motion of thanks to the president's address to the joint sitting of parliament, following which it would be sent to the Rajya Sabha for concurrence, sources said.

The government had last week agreed to the demand of the opposition to form the JPC to investigate the 2G spectrum scam about which the government auditors had said the presumptive loss was worth Rs.1.75 lakh crore.

The whole of the winter session of parliament was lost due to the opposition demand for a JPC probe into the 2G scam and the government not agreeing to it then.

Earlier, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said the announcement on the JPC was likely on Tuesday. BJP deputy leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha Gopinath Munde said the opposition parties had demanded at the meeting of business advisory committee of the Lok Sabha that the announcement of JPC should be made before the start of question hour Tuesday.